Are pain location and physical examinations useful in locating a tear site of the rotator cuff?
GROUND: Pain is the most common symptom of patients with rotator cuff tendinopathy, but little is known about the relationship between the site of pain and the site of cuff pathologic lesions. Also, accuracies of physical examinations used to locate a tear by assessing the muscle strength seem to be affected by the threshold for muscle weakness, but no studies have been reported regarding the efficacies of physical examinations in reference to their threshold. HYPOTHESIS: Pain location is useful in locating a tear site. Efficacies of physical examinations to evaluate the function of the cuff muscles depend on the threshold for muscle weakness. STUDY DESIGN: Case series; Level of evidence, 4. METHODS: The authors retrospectively reviewed the clinical charts of 160 shoulders of 149 patients (mean age, 53 years) with either rotator cuff tears (140 shoulders) or cuff tendinitis (20 shoulders). The location of pain was recorded on a standardized form with 6 different areas. The diagnostic a
