We evaluated the findings of MRI on painful shoulders in 19 hemiplegic patients. T1-weighted (spin echo) image and T2-weighted (fast spin echo) image were scanned in 19 shoulders with the 0.5-Tesla MR system. On MRI, supraspinatus tendon tears were detected in 18 of the 19 shoulders, degenerative change in all shoulders, bone bruise in 2 shoulders, and inflammation in 13 of the 16 shoulders. Eventually most of the patients suffered wide severe injuries in rotator cuff and bone. Since many of these lesions could not be repaired by surgery, it will be important to keep their hemiplegic shoulders reduced in normal position from the onset of stroke in hemiplegic patients.
