Abstract

Strength restoration is one goal of shoulder rehabilitation following rotator cuff repair surgery. However, the time spent in a physical rehabilitation setting is limited. The objective of this study was to develop a novel mathematical formulation for determining the optimal shoulder rehabilitation exercise protocol to restore normal shoulder strength given a time-constrained rehabilitation session. Strength gain was modeled using a linear dose-response function and biomechanical parameters of the shoulder musculature. Two different objective functions were tested: (1) one based on a least squares support vector machine using healthy and pathologic shoulder strengths (normative objective function), and (2) one which seeks to match the strength of the contralateral shoulder (contralateral objective function). The normative objective function was subject-independent and the optimal protocol consisted of four sets each of adduction and external rotation. The contralateral objective function was subject-specific and the typical optimal protocol consisted of various set combinations of abduction and internal and external rotation. These results are only partially consistent with current practice. Improvement of the current model is dependent on a better understanding of strength training adaptation and shoulder rehabilitation.