Supervied progressive rehabilitation is crucial to the successful recovery after a rotator cuff repair.  Many factors will affect rehabilitation after surgery. Some of these include:

• Type of repair (arthroscopic, mini-open, open)
• Size of tear (absolute size, number of tendons involved)
• Tissue Quality
• Location of the tear
• Surgical Approach
• Time from tear to repair
• Patient variables such as age, arm dominance, pre-injury level, desired level of functio, work situation, patient compliance to program
• Physician's Philosophical approach (Wilk et al., 2000)
  

Protocols

• Rotator Cuff Repair Protocol (Shawn Maloney)
  • Small
  • Medium-Large
  • Massive