The Research On The Correlation Between Acromion And Subacromial Impingement Syndrome

bjective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the correlation between acromionand subacromial impingement syndrome by quantifying the lateral extension of theacromion, and to provide theoretical guidance for diagnosis, prevention and treatment ofsubacromial impingement syndrome.Methods: The study was divided into two major parts: literature research componentand clinical research component. In the first part,the author systematically reviewed theheadway of the research of subacromial impingement syndrome up to now, including theanatomy, diagnose, therapeutics in Western medicine,and the Chinese traditionalmedicine’s understanding on the etiology, pathogensis of the periarthritis of shoulder,especially presented a deep discussion about the etiology of the disease.The second partwas the clinical research.From October 2006 to March 2007, 31patients(13 men and 18women,average age,54.3years) with subacromial impingement syndrome, from theoutpatients of the orthopedic department of Changzhou Chinese medicine hospital, wereselected to form the patient group. An age and gender-matched of 40 asymptomaticvolunteers(18 men and’22 women, average age,52.8 years) formed the control group. Theacromion was assessed on the Grashey view with acomion index.Results: The average acromion index(and standard deviation)was 0.72±0.05,inpatient group, 0.61±0.04 in the asymptomatic, normal shoulders. The difference betweenthe index in the shoulders with subacromial impingement syndrome and the index innormal should was highly significant(p〈0.0001).Conclusions: Acromion is the one of the important causes of the subacromial impingementsyndrome. The abnormal of the relative position between the acromion and the humeralhead may also cause the subacromial impingement syndrome. The pathogenesis may berelative to changes in the mechanics of the deltoid, which was cause by the abnormalrelative position with the acromion and the humeral head. Acromion index can beaccurately reflected the acromion and the humeral head in the coronal position. The longer the lateral extension of the acromion is, the greater part of the humeral head is covered, thehigher acromion index is. The higher the acromion index is, the greater upward effortscaused by deltoid muscle in the humeral head, the smaller medial efforts, which causes theincreased trend of upward translation of the humeral head, and increases the pressure ofsubacromial space, then caused impingement syndrome. For the high-acromion indexcrowd, they should avoid to outreach upper limb rapidly or hard in long-term and strengththe muscles such as rotator cuff, which can provide the stability for the glenohumeral joint.