Twenty-six patients with cuff repair were evaluated postoperatively. Six were put on abduction brace for about six weeks (long-term brace group), 15 were put on abduction brace for about three weeks (short-term brace group), and five were placed in a sling (sling group).
The average period of hospital stay was 65.5 days (long-term brace group), 28.8 days (short-term brace group), and 22.0 days (sling group). Hospital stay periods correlated with the postoperative fixation method. The average JOA score for the three groups at final follow-up was 94.0 (long-term brace group), 94.6 (short-term brace group), and 93.5 (sling group). The scores were not influerced by the postoperative fixation. These results show that we can shorten postoperative fixation time and improve the comfort of patients in braces.
