The association of suprascapular neuropathy with massive rotator cuff tears: A preliminary report

Suprascapular Neuropathy: An Overview

“…As regards the adequately evaluated patients they seem to show results in the field of pain and functionality [20,45,52], but not in atrophy especially in the cases that the therapeutic intervention started on the chronic phase [44].…”

“…SSN may reflect anatomical deformities, such as narrow suprascapular notch or bone stenoses [6,9], or it may be multifactorial and thus relevant to ganglia [10][11][12], trauma that could lead to tension of the nerve [13][14][15], or activities with repetitive lifting of the upper extremity over the level of the head [16][17][18][19], or rotator cuff tears [20].…”

Recovery of sensory disturbance after arthroscopic decompression of the suprascapular nerve

“…It is often difficult to repair massively torn cuff tendon at the original footprint and, therefore, it is uncertain if the entrapment of the SSN is completely released after surgery. Mallon 14 reported that the nerve conduction improved after partial repair of massive rotator cuff tear in some cases but not in all.…”

“…Mallon 14 reported that SSN palsy occurred in massive cuff tear shoulders because the torn muscles were retracted proximally and the SSN was entrapped at the suprascapular notch. In our cases, however, SSN palsy existed not only in massive rotator cuff tear cases but patients with small or incomplete cuff tear or even no tears.…”

Role of fatty infiltration in the pathophysiology and outcomes of rotator cuff tears

“…Suprascapular neuropathy may contribute to FI, as supported by both animal models and small clinical studies (10,11). Albritton et al proposed that supraspinatus retraction might place excessive tension or traction on the su-prascapular nerve, which may subsequently contribute to both infraspinatus and supraspinatus degeneration (12).…”