Correspondence: Sofia Ryman Augustsson, PhD, RPT, Lundberg Laboratory for Orthopaedic Research, Department of Orthopaedics, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, SE-413 45 Göteborg, Sweden. E-mail: sofia.augustsson@gu.se (Received 9 June 2011; accepted 23 January 2012) compared with women (2). A sensation of instability and distrust in the stability and capacity of the shoulders are leading to lower levels of sporting activities and disuse of the arm (3). Rehabilitation could help an athlete with a shoulder dislocation to return to sporting activities within a short period after shoulder dislocation (5,6). However, surgical stabilisation is normally considered for patients who fail to respond to non-surgical treatment. For athletes, a trauma or problems with recurrent instability unfor- tunately often result in the termination of the athlete’ s sports season. Shoulder instability injuries therefore constantly provide challenges for the physician and ORIGINAL ARTICLE Clinical evaluation of muscle function, quality of life and functional capacity after shoulder surgery SOFIA RYMAN AUGUSTSSON 1,3 , INGRID HULTENHEIM KLINTBERG 1,2,3 , ULLA SVANTESSON 2,3 & NINNI SERNERT 1,4 1 The Institute of Clinical Sciences/Department of Orthopaedics, Sahlgrenska Academy at University of Gothenburg, Sweden, 2 Department of Physiotherapy, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Sweden, 3 Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology/Physiotherapy, Sahlgrenska Academy at University of Gothenburg, Sweden, 4 Department of Research and Development, NU-Hospital Organisation, Trollhättan, Sweden Abstract The aim of the present study was to analyse and describe muscle function, quality of life and functional capacity before and after shoulder instability surgery. Twenty-six women aged 34 (  14) years and 95 men aged 32 (  10) years participated in this study. All patients were on the waiting list or had undergone shoulder instability surgery. The study was performed with a cross-sectional design and patients were examined pre-operatively, 6-month post-operatively or 7-year post-operatively. Handgrip strength measurement, active range of motion (AROM), isometric shoulder muscle strength measurement, health-related quality of life measured by Western Ontario Shoulder Instability Index (WOSI©) and shoulder function using the Constant Score were evaluated. The mean AROM in flexion for women in all groups ranged from 162 ° (  16) to 169 ° (  12), and for men from 157 ° (  19) to 162 ° (  12). The mean AROM in abduction ranged from 170 ° (  25) to 177 °(  5) for women and from 177 ° (  8) to 179 ° (  24) for men. The mean AROM in external rotation ranged from 89 ° (  14) to 95 ° (  14) for women and from 83 ° (  21) to 85 ° (  12) for men. Men were significantly stronger and had a larger AROM on the non-injured side compared with the injured side, whereas differences were found between non-injured and injured side for women only in AROM. The scores from the WOSI© for all the patients were far from normative values suggesting that the patient’ s subjective experience does not fully reflect the physical examination. The results from the present study can guide the physiotherapist to give patients realistic expectations of shoulder function concerning AROM and muscle strength. Key words: bankart repair, constant Score, physiotherapy , range of motion, rehabilitation, shoulder instability, shoulder muscle strength, WOSI© Introduction Shoulder instability and shoulder dislocation are common problems in young persons and especially in an athletic population, because of acute or repetitive trauma, in addition to overuse in athletes with liga- mentous laxity (1). The higher the demands imposed by sporting activities, the more likely the athlete is to put the shoulder at risk of traumatic shoulder dislocation (2). Follow-up studies have shown that males more frequently undergo surgical treatment for shoulder instability compared with females (3,4). However, men also appear to put themselves at a higher risk of sustaining shoulder instability injuries Advances in Physiotherapy, 2012; 14: 29–37 ISSN 1403-8196 print/ISSN 1651-1948 online © 2012 Informa Healthcare DOI: 10.3109/14038196.2012.660988 Adv Physiother Downloaded from informahealthcare.com by Goteborgs University on 12/26/12 For personal use only.