A Long Term Follow-Up of Rotator Cuff Tear Patients Treated With Integrated Complementary and Alternative Medicine

"Rotator cuff tear is known as its symptoms which are pain, limited shoulder range of motion(ROM), and the clicking sound of the shoulder.

On recent research by Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service, the number of rotator cuff tear patients has increased from 508155 to 704838 during 2013-2017. And also the research reported that the difference of effect between surgical treatments and non-surgical treatments was unremarkable. So in most cases, non-surgical treatments are applied primarily on rotator cuff tear except for some serious cases.

Physical therapy and medication are well known for the currently known non-surgical and conservative treatments, but research reported on the treatment of rotator cuff tear by using Korean medicine treatment so far has its weak level. Therefore, it is expected that this study will demonstrate the efficacy of the treatment of rotator cuff tear in Korean medicine treatment and will further pave the way for non-surgical treatment of rotator cuff tear.

Therefore, The investigators conducted an observational trial to analyze the effectiveness of Korean medicine treatment in rotator cuff tear. Retrospective data will be extracted using electronic medical records and computerized data of hospitalized patients. Based on this, investigators will conduct research in the form of a prospective survey and analyze the causal relationship and factors using the two data.

The hospital's medical records will be used to analyze the patient's condition during the hospitalization period and to determine the situation after the end of treatment through a questionnaire. The questionnaire will be developed after consultation with experts from the musculoskeletal system and related societies, and will be used for the questionnaire."

Inclusion criteria

• Patients who had been hospitalized with symptoms of shoulder pain at Haeundae Jaseng Korean Medicine Hospital, Jaseng Korean Medicine Hospital, Bucheon Jaseng Korean Medicine Hospital and Daejeon Jaseng Korean Medicine Hospital from Jan 2015 to Mar 2020.
• Patients diagnosed with 'Rotation Cuff Tear' finding of the EMR imaging (T2-weighted MRI scan of Shoulder
• Patients who had been hospitalized more than 3 days
• Patients who are within age from 19 to 70

Exclusion criteria

• Patients who are hospitalized by traffic accident
• Patients who are diagnosed other serious shoulder injury that can cause shoulder pain(tumor of shoulder, acute fracture and dislocation of shoulder)
• Patients who had treated shoulder pain at Haeundae Jaseng Korean Medicine Hospital, Jaseng Korean Medicine Hospital, Bucheon Jaseng Korean Medicine Hospital and Daejeon Jaseng Korean Medicine Hospital in recent 6 months.
• Patients who are considered impossible to attend survey by investigators.