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Rotator cuff visit sheet: tear details, therapy scores and guideline questions
Copy the facts of your tear from the imaging report, log your therapy scores and injections between visits, and bring the questions to your orthopedic surgeon. The guideline statements printed here let you check which one applies to your tear.
Your tear, from the imaging report
Shoulder and tendon or tendons involved
Partial-thickness (and grade) or full-thickness (and size)
Muscle atrophy or fatty infiltration reported?
Started with an injury, or came on gradually?
Imaging type and date
Therapy, scores and injections between visits
| Date | Weeks of therapy | Score and scale (ASES, DASH or other) | Pain now | Injections since last visit (type and date) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
The 2025 AAOS guideline (published 08/18/2025)
- Strong: for small to medium full-thickness tears, physical therapy and surgery both significantly improve patient-reported outcomes.[1]
- Strong: physical therapy improves outcomes for full-thickness tears, but tear size, muscle atrophy and fatty infiltration may progress over 5 to 10 years without surgery.[1]
- Moderate: a single corticosteroid injection with local anesthetic can be considered for short-term improvement in shoulder pain and function.[1]
- Limited: multiple steroid injections may compromise the rotator cuff and affect a later repair.[1]
- Limited: routine platelet-rich plasma is not supported for tendinopathy or partial tears.[1]
The MOON physical therapy cohort
- Physical therapy was effective for over 70% of patients with atraumatic full-thickness tears at 10 years.[2]
- Patient-reported scores improved after 12 weeks of therapy and did not decline over 10 years.[2]
Questions for your orthopedic surgeon
- Is my tear partial or full thickness, and how large or how deep is it?
- Which guideline statement fits my tear, and what does that mean for me?
- How many steroid injections have I had, and could more affect a future repair?
- What would make you recommend surgery rather than more therapy?
- Does anything I take, including supplements or peptides, matter for healing or for surgery?
Sources for the facts on this sheet
- American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Management of Rotator Cuff Injuries: Evidence-Based Clinical Practice Guideline. Accessed 2026-10-19. https://www.aaos.org/globalassets/quality-and-practice-resources/rotator-cuff/rotator-cuff-2025/rotator-cuff-cpg.pdf
- Kuhn JE, Dunn WR, Sanders R, et al. 2024 Kappa Delta Ann Doner Vaughan Award: Nonsurgical Treatment of Symptomatic, Atraumatic Full-Thickness Rotator Cuff Tears-a Prospective Multicenter Cohort Study With 10-Year Follow-Up. J Am Acad Orthop Surg 2024. PMID 39325825. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39325825/
This sheet records information for a conversation with your prescriber or pharmacist. It does not replace their instructions or the medication's prescribing information.