The purpose of this study was to compare the clinical results of open rotator cuff (RC) repair (open group) and arthroscopic RC repair (arthroscopic group) for APRCT in painful shoulders of overhead athletes. We retrospectively studied 8 shoulders in the open group and 4 shoulders in the arthroscopic group. The average age at the time of surgery was 23.0 years in the open group and 24.0 years in the arthroscopic group. Seven baseball players and 1 volleyball player were included in the open group and 3 baseball players and 1 volleyball player were included in the arthroscopic group. The average follow-up was 22.3 months in the open group and 21.3 months in the arthroscopic group. We evaluated clinical outcome using the JSS shoulder sports score (JSS-SSS), return to sports activities and progress of range of motion. The average JSS-SSS improved from 19.0 preoperatively to 65.6 postoperatively in the open group and 31.0 preoperatively to 68.8 postoperatively in the arthroscopic group. The period until resumption of throwing activities after surgery was 8.1 months in the open group and 5.0 months in the arthroscopic group (p=0.0025). Six cases (75.0%) in the open group and 3 cases (75.0%) in the arthroscopic group returned to their preoperative sports activities on average 10.3 and 13.7 months postoperatively respectively. The restoration of range of motion in flexion at 9 months after surgery in the arthroscopic group was significantly better than in the open group (p=0.0479). The clinical results of both groups were mostly satisfactory. However it took a long time for the open group to return to their previous sports activities compared with the arthroscopic debridement group.
