The goal of this systematic review is to evaluate the effectiveness of different treatments for impingement syndrome and rotator cuff tear on the improvement in functional limitations and concomitant duration of sick leave. A systematic search for clinical trials or controlled studies was conducted with the following text words: should*, rotator cuff, impingement, work, sick leave, disabilit*, function*. Nineteen articles were included in this review. For functional limitations, there is strong evidence that extracorporeal shock-wave therapy is not effective, moderate evidence that exercise combined with manual therapy is more effective than exercise alone, that ultrasound is not effective, and that open and arthroscopic acromioplasty are equally effective on the long term. For all other interventions there is only limited evidence. We found many studies using range of motion and pain as outcome measures but functional limitations were less often used as an outcome measure in this type of research. Duration of sick leave was seldom included as an outcome measure.

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Except for male gender, the primary determinants for improvement in pain, functional limitations, and quality of life were not associated with RTW. Although there is a large coherence in the improvement in the outcome measures, RTW seems primarily determined by the level of experienced functional limitations.