Return to work after arthroscopic subacromial decompression.

The incidence of arthroscopic subacromial decompression has been increasing over the last few years. Little is known about the duration of sick leave after such a procedure. The aim of this study was to determine the time till return to full duty and to explore the various influencing factors. We retrospectively evaluated a group of 166 patients who consecutively underwent arthroscopic subacromial decompression for subacromial impingement syndrome. One hundred patients were professionally active at the time of surgery; the mean duration till return to full duty was 11.1 weeks. Self-employed workers had the shortest sick leave period (median time of 1 week). No statistically significant difference was seen between the group with a financial compensation from the national health insurance system (median time of 12 weeks) and the group with income replacement by a private insurance company (median time of 8 weeks). Patients performing manual labour typically had a longer period of sick leave than other employees (12 versus 8 weeks). A longer absence from work was also observed in individuals who underwent a concomitant arthroscopic AC resection and patients with a higher BMI.