Recommendations for diagnosis and legal assessment of traumatic rotator cuff tears

Traumatic rotator cuff lesions are a very rare condition. However,this arti cle represents a comprehensive survey according to current knowledge on ana tomy, biomechanics,and pathogenesis of rotator cuff pathology. Because of the relatively high prevalence of degenerative changes with incr easing age, including partial and complete relator cuff tears, it may be di fficult to demonstrate the causality of an acute traumatic rotator cuff tea r. Therefore, a catalogue of potential adequate and inadequate trauma mechanis ms is proposed. Emphasis is also placed on posttraumatic diagnostic steps f ollowing persistent rotator cuff deficient shoulder function (e.g., ultraso und, MRI). From a legal aspect (e.g., private accident insurance,workers compensation claim),different minor and major criteria are defined, which could help exp erts to judge the causality of posttraumatic rotator cuff deficiency. These criteria mainly refer to distinct details concerning patients' history, tr auma mechanism, primary clinical appearance, and diagnostic findings.