Diagnostic Labels for Rotator Cuff Disease Can Increase People's Perceived Need for Shoulder Surgery: An Online Randomized Controlled Trial

Objective To investigate whether different labels for rotator cuff disease influence people's perceived need for surgery. Design Randomized controlled experiment. Methods Participants with and without shoulder pain read a vignette describing a patient with rotator cuff disease and were randomized to 1 of 6 terms describing rotator cuff disease: subacromial impingement syndrome, rotator cuff tear, bursitis, rotator cuff–related shoulder pain,...