The FIMAGE study scanned both shoulders of 602 adults from the general population using high-resolution 3-Tesla MRI. Only 7 had a structurally normal rotator cuff. In this episode, I walk through what the study found, why 78% of full-thickness tears were in people with no shoulder pain, and what happens to the diagnostic value of a scan when the finding it detects is near-universal. I challenge the assumption that prevalence equals normality, explore why the word "tear" imports a trauma narrative into what is usually a degenerative process, and make the case that imaging findings deserve a smaller seat at the clinical reasoning table than we've historically given them.

Key resources

Ibounig T et al. Incidental Rotator Cuff Abnormalities on Magnetic Resonance Imaging. JAMA Intern Med. 2026 Apr 1;186(4):406-414. doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2025.7903. PMID: 41697693; PMCID: PMC12910452.

Englund M et al. Incidental meniscal findings on knee MRI in middle-aged and elderly persons. N Engl J Med. 2008 Sep 11;359(11):1108-15. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa0800777. PMID: 18784100; PMCID: PMC2897006.

Jensen MC et al. Magnetic resonance imaging of the lumbar spine in people without back pain. N Engl J Med. 1994 Jul 14;331(2):69-73. doi: 10.1056/NEJM199407143310201. PMID: 8208267.

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# 58: Most rotator cuff tears don't hurt

The Shoulder Physio Podcast

# 58: Most rotator cuff tears don't hurt