I have been diagnosed with adhesive capsulitis, I have read that sometimes you can also have a rotator cuff injury and with this diagnosis. How will I know if this is also the case?

There has recently been some discussion of rotator cuff injuries being associated with adhesive capsulitis, or frozen shoulder, with no known cause and this is something to consider. A recent study by Ueda et al has attempted to clarify some of the information that is in the research these days. This study has better defined the range of motion restrictions in frozen shoulder as they relate to possible rotator cuff injuries. They have shown that if there is severe restriction in all motions, for example less than 100 degrees of forward flexion, external rotation of 10 degrees or less and internal rotation reach to the 5th lumbar level or less it is not likely that there is a rotator cuff injury. However, if you have loss of motion in only one direction, or less severe loss in all directions there can be up to a fifty percent chance of having a rotator cuff injury. In this case, according to Ueda et al, it would be appropriate to have imaging, such as an MRI, to look further into this possibility.