Subjective history
Pain on the anterior GHJ, sometimes radiating into the bicep region
In a traumatic tear, there can be a trauma/ incident that caused the pain to start i.e. a fall
In degenerative tears, the onset is often insidious, or a relatively small task can cause tear, i.e. shutting the car door and therefore, goes un-noticed by the patient
Often the patient is unable to elevate their arm
The patient often reports limitations in function such as brushing hair, putting on coat and taking their hand behind their back
With a full thickness tear, the patient can often present pain free, with the main complaint being unable to elevate arm and reduced function
Painful to lay on the affected shoulder
Objective assessment
Reduced active range of movement (often not pain related)
Passive range of movement more than active
Rotator cuff weakness (either through range or part range depending on location of tear)
Often tenderness on palpation of supraspinatus insertion or rotator cuff muscle belly
References
Image from OpenI – Licensed by CC