Auntie Wang, who has just retired, is even busier: today she swims and climbs with her old colleagues, tomorrow she goes shopping with her girlfriends, and from time to time she dances and plays Tai Chi, so this little life can be moist. However, there is one thing that makes her headache, is that her left shoulder often hurts, has been more than two years, recently the pain can not sleep at night, the amount of painkillers are also getting bigger and bigger. The family was very anxious and went to more than one local hospital, but the doctor’s diagnosis was the same: frozen shoulder. There is a massage clinic near the house, so Auntie Wang went to massage every day, but for a week in a row, the pain not only did not reduce, but more and more serious. The family was so anxious that they took her to the Liaocheng Second Hospital to see a doctor. After a series of checkups and examinations, the doctor gave the diagnosis of rotator cuff tear. “Rotator cuff tear? What kind of disease is this? Am I not suffering from frozen shoulder?” Faced with a series of questions from Auntie Liu, the doctor began to patiently answer them for her one by one. The doctor’s words also made Auntie Wang have a deeper understanding of shoulder joint disease: many people have experienced shoulder pain, especially the elderly, and everyone knows about the disease “frozen shoulder”, for a long time, many people are used to labeling themselves as frozen shoulder when the shoulder joint hurts. Due to the lack of knowledge and proper diagnosis, many people go farther and farther down the road of treatment. In fact, there are many different causes of shoulder pain, including frozen shoulder, rotator cuff tear, shoulder impingement, glenoid labral injury, etc. Especially rotator cuff tears are often confused with frozen shoulder, and even some inexperienced or unskilled surgeons may cause misdiagnosis. Once you don’t care or are misdiagnosed, you can only make the rotator cuff tear worse and worse. Frozen shoulder, also known as periarthritis, is a common disease that occurs in middle-aged and elderly people in their 50’s. It is a common disease with pain in the shoulder joint followed by movement disorders. It is a common and frequent disease. This disease is characterized by severe and widespread pain. The main symptoms are shoulder pain, inability to lift the shoulder, limited rotation in all directions, and in severe cases, even combing hair and putting on clothes. Rotator cuff tears are a disease in sports medicine. The rotator cuff is a group of four muscles that attach to the shoulder joint and wrap around it like a cuff. They protect the shoulder joint, maintain the stability of the joint, and are responsible for the movement of the shoulder joint. The rotator cuff is composed of four muscles and their accessory tendons. These four muscles are the supraspinatus, infraspinatus, subscapularis and teres minor. They start at the scapula and together form a tendinous unit that then ends at the greater tuberosity of the humerus. The rotator cuff serves to lift and rotate the upper arm and stabilize the humeral head within the shoulder joint. Most tears occur in the supraspinatus muscle, but other muscles have been involved as well. Rotator cuff tears are a common cause of shoulder pain and mobility problems in adults. Rotator cuff pain can be produced by acute trauma and chronic strain causing tears in the rotator cuff tissue. Many middle-aged and older adults have experienced shoulder pain, pain or weakness when the shoulder joint is moved to a certain angle, and an inability to lift the arm. Every day, they move their shoulder joints extensively: climbing the wall, pulling the hoop, lifting the shoulder and touching the opposite ear, etc., plus massage, physiotherapy, …… but the shoulder pain does not improve, and the pain will increase after each exercise. The shoulder pain often gets better in one to two years, but they are getting more and more serious, and finally went to a professional doctor for examination, only to be told that they had a rotator cuff tear, a disease. When I heard this, Auntie Wang had another question: “I haven’t had any injuries, how did this rotator cuff tear?” The doctor smiled slightly and went on to say that rotator cuff injuries are caused by both acute tears and chronic strains. Acute tears are commonly caused by shoulder and elbow support during falls, as well as external violent impacts and pulls. Chronic strain injuries, on the other hand, often have no history of trauma. This is because the shoulder joint is being worn down when it is moving at roughly 60 to 90 degrees. For example, using a mouse, a teacher writing a board, an artist holding a pen, swinging the arm during freestyle swimming, etc. are all in this position. The wear and tear is caused by the lack of blood transport to the worn parts, and it is not easy to repair itself, which eventually causes rotator cuff damage or even tears. “Oh, so that’s how it is.” Auntie Wang understood this time. “However, from what you just said, both diseases are shoulder joint pain and affected movement, how did you determine that I have a rotator cuff tear and not frozen shoulder?” “This is where the problem of misdiagnosis lies,” the doctor mused and continued, “The two diseases do seem to have similarities on the surface, but there are still differences when you look at them carefully. The main difference between rotator cuff tears and frozen shoulder is that in people with rotator cuff tears, the shoulder can be lifted up in the early stage, and it hurts at a certain angle when it is lifted up, usually at 60-120 degrees, but it doesn’t hurt when it is lifted over. In patients with frozen shoulder, the more you lift your arm, the more it hurts. The general public can use this difference to make a prior identification. “Now I completely understand, then how to cure it?” Auntie Liu transformed from not caring to worrying about this disease. The doctor instructed her to relax: “In terms of treatment, frozen shoulder can usually carry out some exercises, such as: climbing the wall, pendulum movement, hanging a single pole and so on and assist in taking or applying anti-inflammatory drugs to reduce pain, physiotherapy and ice is better for pain relief and anti-inflammation. However, if you have had the disease for a long time, more than two years, you should consider that it may not be frozen shoulder. If it is a rotator cuff tear, it depends on the tear. If it is a partial tear or a small tear, it can be treated conservatively through muscle strength exercises or by avoiding repetitive pain-inducing movements. If the tear itself is large, or if conservative treatment does not work for more than 6 months, it is time to undergo surgery. Nowadays, we use minimally invasive shoulder arthroscopy, which is less invasive, less painful for the patient, and with post-operative rehabilitation exercises, the recovery effect is generally better. After hearing the doctor’s words, Auntie Wang decided to undergo surgery to get rid of the shoulder pain that had plagued her for years. Now, it has been more than a month since Auntie Wang had the surgery. Through the surgery and post-operative exercises, Auntie Wang has regained her old smile. But she now talks to everyone about her experience with this visit, which was really a late rotator cuff tear!