(PURPOSE)
The diagnosis of sports injuries of the shoulder is difficult. What is useful for diagnosing them and how can we approach them?
(MATERIALS and METHODS)
The subjects comprised of 18 patients with a shoulder pain when they participated in a sporting activity. They were treated by arthroscopic surgery as joint side rotator cuff tears (J. S. T). There were 17 males and 1 female, ranging in age from 16 to 26 years with a mean of 19.9 years.
We performed a plain X-ray, a local anesthetic test, a sonogram, an MRI and arthrography before the arthroscopic examination.
(RESULTS)
All of the patients returned to their previous sporting activities after arthroscopic surgery and rehabilitation.
(CONCLUSION)
The local anesthetic test was useful in deciding the location of the pain. We considered sonography as the most useful for a joint side rotator cuff tear. But we cannot diagnose a joint side rotator cuff tear without performing an arthroscopic examination.
