What concerns people with shoulder pain? A mixed-methods study

The primary aim of this study was to investigate the concerns of people with rotator cuff-related shoulder pain. 

We recruited 2,237 adults with rotator cuff-related shoulder pain (based on self-report) through Qualtrics; a market research company. We collected data on demographics (e.g. sex, age), healthcare use (e.g. previous history of diagnostic imaging, physiotherapy, injections), and their shoulder condition (e.g. pain duration, pain intensity) via an online survey. We asked one open-ended question to elicit participants’ concerns about their shoulder pain for our main analysis: “Do you have any concerns or worries about your shoulder pain? Please describe them and try to elaborate as much as possible, even if you don’t have any concerns or worries.” Participant characteristics were summarised using descriptive statistics. Concerns were analysed using inductive content analysis.

Participants' mean (standard deviation, SD) age was 46 (16) years old and 62% were female. There were 530 participants (24%) who did not have any concerns. Of the 1,707 (76%) who had at least some concerns, the most common themes were concerns about the cause of shoulder pain (31%), concerns about the physical consequences of shoulder pain (23%), and concerns about the psychosocial consequences of shoulder pain (6%). Participants expressed a wide variety of specific concerns, with the most common being concerns about the experience of pain (9%), the condition getting worse (4%), reoccurrence (4%), persistent pain (4%), impaired mobility (3%) and not knowing the cause of pain (3%).

Most people with rotator cuff-related shoulder pain have at least some concerns about their shoulder pain. Although the types of concerns vary between individuals, the most common concerns centred around the causes of and physical consequences of rotator cuff-related shoulder pain.

Our findings could help refine guideline recommendations about education and reassurance for rotator cuff-related shoulder pain, and help optimise consumer resources for this condition.