Orthopaedics Flashcards
(164 cards)
List the rotator cuff muscles and their actions?
- Supraspinatus – initiation of abduction
- Infraspinatus – external rotation
- Teres minor – external rotation
- Subscapularis – internal rotation
Shoulder red flag:
- Trauma, pain and weakness or sudden loss of ability to actively raise the arm (with or without trauma)
suspect rotator cuff tear
Shoulder red flag:
any shoulder mass or swelling?
suspect malignancy
Shoulder red flag:
red skin, painful joint, fever or person is systemically unwell?
suspect septic arthritis
Shoulder red flag:
trauma leading to loss of rotation and abnormal shape?
suspect dislocation
Shoulder red flag:
new symptoms of inflammation in several joints?
suspect inflammatory arthritis
What is impingement syndrome
This is a syndrome where the tendons of the rotator cuff (predominantly supraspinatus) are compressed in the tight subacromial space during movement producing pain
What are the main causes of impingement syndrome?
- Tendonitis (this will mainly be caused by overuse/ age – think wear and tear e.g. lots of sports and swimming)
- Subacromial bursitis (this will mainly be caused by overuse/ age – think wear and tear e.g. lots of sports and swimming)
- Acromioclavicular OA with inferior osteophyte
- A hooked acromion rotator cuff tear
Positive Hawkins kennedy test suggests?
impingement syndrome
this is pain on flexed and internally rotated shoulder
Presentation of impingement syndrome?
- Painful abduction arc
- Pain from impingement characteristically radiates to the deltoid and upper arm
- Tenderness may be felt below the lateral edge of the acromion
- Hawkins Kennedy test (IR flexed shoulder recreates pain)
- Generally, would not need any investigations
Management of impingement syndrome?
- Rest (in acute phase) and NSAIDs
- Exercise/ physio
- Subacromial injection of steroid
- Do not give more than 2 injections (only give a 2nd if actually had improvement) – risk of tendon damage
- Refer if not benefitting from treatment
- Orthopaedics can do subacromial decompression surgery
Explain what a rotator cuff tear is?
- Tendons (usually of supraspinatus) of the rotator cuff can tear with minimal or no trauma as a consequence of degenerative changes in the tendons
- e.g. a sudden jerk when on a bus holding a rail, then subsequent pain and weakness
- at least 20% of over 60 yo have asymptomatic cuff tears due to tendon degeneration
- in young people can get rotator cuff tendon tears due to significant injury .eg. shoulder dislocation but this is very uncommon
What tendon is usually involved in a rotator cuff tear?
supraspinatus
Presentation of a rotator cuff tear?
- Pain and weakness in shoulder
- May be sudden if associated with an event or gradual
- Weakness in rotator cuff muscles on examination
Rotator cuff tears can be seen on what type of imaging?
MRI or ultrasound but not XR
Management of rotator cuff tears?
- Acute rotator cuff tears by trauma should be referred to secondary care
- Optimal treatment is controversial
- Can have surgery however around a third of surgeries fail
- Many patients do well with physiotherapy to strengthen up the remaining cuff muscles which can compensate for the loss of supraspinatus
- Subacromial injection may help symptoms
What is adhesive capsulitis/ frozen shoulder?
- Disorder characterised by progressive pain and stiffness of the shoulder in patients between 40 and 60, resolving after around 18-24 months
- Aetiology is unclear – the capsule and glenohumeral ligaments become inflamed then thicken and contract
Presentation of frozen shoulder?
- Initially pain which will subside after 2-9 months
- Stiffness then follows for around 4-12 months
- The stiffness gradually thaws out over time with good recovery of shoulder motion
- The principle clinical sign is loss of external rotation (along with restriction of other movements) which can also occur in OA but this tends to affect older patients
Investigations for frozen shoulder?
- Diagnosis is clinical
- The main diagnostic test is the inability to do passive external rotation
- XR are usually only necessary if the presentation is atypical or the patient is not responding to treatment
- XR re commonly normal
- Blood tests and radiography only need to be performed if red flag shoulder symptoms are present
Management for frozen shoulder?
Consider referral to secondary care if pain and significant disability are present for more than six months despite appropriate conservative management
Best treatments are still quite unclear:
1. Analgesia – paracetamol and NSAIDs, use of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation machine may also be helpful
2. Encourage early activity
3. Physiotherapy with joint mobilisation combined with stretching exercises
4. Passive mobilisation and capsular stretching
5. Injection with corticosteroids can reduce pain and duration of symptoms in early stages
6. Surgical management can involve manipulation under anaesthesia and arthroscopic capsulotomy
Prognosis for frozen shoulder?
- The condition is generally self-limiting and over 90% of patients have returned to normal levels of functioning after 2 years without any treatment
- Relapses in the same shoulder are uncommon
- Some patients can have symptoms that last for several years of symptoms that never fully resolve
What are the 2 types of shoulder instability? explain?
traumatic - some shoulders after anterior dislocations do not stabilise and get recurrent subluxations and dislocations
atraumatic- idiopathic ligamentous laxity or Ehlers-Danlos or Marfans
What predicts the likelihood of further shoulder dislocations?
age at first dislocation
80% re dislocation rate in under 20s
20% re dislocation rate in over 30s
Treatment for recurrent shoulder dislocations caused by traumatic instability?
bankart repair (open or arthroscopic - reattachment of the labrum and capsule to the anterior glenoid which was torn off in first dislocation)