The Ubiquity of Rotator Cuff Abnormalities on MRI in the General Population

If you have had a shoulder MRI, then this applies to you

Mar 05, 2026

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By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPH

Virtually every patient with a shoulder problem I have send for an MRI has come back with an abnormality. I wondered how common these findings were. Alter AI assisted on this review.

Shoulder Pain and the Rotator Cuff » OrthoGeorgia

FIMAGE Study

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has made clear that rotator cuff (RC) abnormalities are nearly universal among middle-aged and older adults, blurring the line between normal aging and disease. The landmark Finnish FIMAGE study by Ibounig et al., published in JAMA Internal Medicine (2026), provides the most definitive population-based evidence to date confirming that the vast majority of imaging-detected RC changes do not correspond with symptoms or functional impairment

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