[Rupture of the rotator cuff in the elderly].

Rupture of rotator cuff in the elderly people is mostly degenerative. Due to the rupture, function of the arm may be disturbed up to pseudo-paralysis. Apart from the functional disturbances the patient is suffering from tormenting nightly pain. The therapy for the elderly people will almost always be a conservative one. Apart from symptomatic measures, physical therapy to prevent a frozen shoulder is essential. With old age operational indication should be particularly restrictive and only where conservative treatment has failed so far.