Regional musculoskeletal conditions including rotator cuff disease
Rotator cuff tendinopathy and tears, frozen shoulder, tennis elbow, greater trochanteric pain syndrome, bursitis and heel pain. Most settle with education and progressive loading; injections give short relief, subacromial decompression doesn't beat placebo, and acute traumatic cuff tears need early referral.
Tier 1Condition
Written with AI assistance and fact-checked against the sources below. For exam study, not clinical decisions. How notes are made
At a glance
- Soft tissue problems around joints (tendons, bursae, capsule) are among the commonest musculoskeletal presentations. Most settle with education, activity modification and progressive loading exercise over 6 to 12 weeks.
- Corticosteroid injections give short relief for weeks, and for tennis elbow they worsen 1-year outcomes. Keep them for pain that blocks rehabilitation.
- Arthroscopic subacromial decompression is no better than placebo surgery (CSAW, FIMPACT).
Loading the rest of the note…
Finished reading?
Sources
- Therapeutic Guidelines: Rheumatology (shoulder, elbow, hip, knee, foot and hand soft tissue conditions)AU/NZTherapeutic Guidelines Limited (eTG complete), current online version, accessed November 2026
- Desmeules F et al. Rotator cuff tendinopathy: clinical practice guideline. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 2025Journal of Orthopaedic and Sports Physical Therapy, 2025
- Lambers Heerspink FO et al. Dutch guideline update on subacromial pain syndrome, part 1: non-surgical management. Acta Orthop 2026Acta Orthopaedica, 2026
- Beard DJ et al. Arthroscopic subacromial decompression for subacromial shoulder pain (CSAW): a multicentre, pragmatic, parallel group, placebo-controlled, three-group, randomised surgical trial. Lancet 2018;391:329-38The Lancet, 2018
- Paavola M et al. Subacromial decompression versus diagnostic arthroscopy for shoulder impingement (FIMPACT). BMJ 2018;362:k2860BMJ, 2018
- Rangan A et al. Management of adults with primary frozen shoulder in secondary care (UK FROST). Lancet 2020;396:977-89The Lancet, 2020
- Coombes BK et al. Effect of corticosteroid injection, physiotherapy, or both on clinical outcomes in patients with unilateral lateral epicondylalgia. JAMA 2013;309:461-9JAMA, 2013
- Mellor R et al. Education plus exercise versus corticosteroid injection use versus a wait and see approach on global outcome and pain from gluteal tendinopathy (LEAP). BMJ 2018;361:k1662BMJ, 2018
- APO-Ciprofloxacin (ciprofloxacin) Australian product informationAU/NZTherapeutic Goods Administration, 12 November 2026
- Last updated
- 14 November 2026
What changed
- 14 November 2026 Turnstile bot check on sign-in and signed-out feedback