Correspondence on 'Non-surgical and surgical treatments for rotator cuff disease: a pragmatic randomised clinical trial with 2-year follow-up after initial rehabilitation'.

With great interest, we read the relevant results of a randomised clinical trial designed to compare conservative and surgical approach for treating rotator cuff disease (RCD), leading cause of shoulder pain and disability in adult’s population. The study highlighted the superiority of surgery, by means of shoulder pain (Visual Analogue Scale) and function (Constant Murley Score) improvement after 2 years, in patients with full-thickness rotator cuff tear.1 Whereas, as already stated in other studies,2 3 RCD without full-thickness tendon tear benefits equally from either non-surgical treatment or subacromial decompression.\n\nBased on the experience of our hospital, where orthopaedics and rheumatologists work everyday side by side, we would like to make some comments and to share our point of view.\n\nThe power of the study lies in the fact that potential eligible patients underwent a systematic adequately performed 3-month rehabilitation, after which only who was still symptomatic was randomised.\n\nThe trial was designed in order to distinguish, right from the …