Relationship between tendinopathy and bursopathy findings in ultrasonography of the shoulder and work disability

Abstract

Tendinopathy and bursopathy findings are common in ultrasonography of shoulder, but frequently there are no clinical symptoms. Consequently, these findings may be not understood by experts as disease or lesions. This causes a lot of objections by prosecutors and judges, raising doubts about the quality of the expert report. The present study aims to assess the interpretation of the medical experts regarding the relationship between work disability and the tendinopathy or bursopathy as was shown by the ultrasound of the shoulders. For this purpose, expert reports were selected from the Juizado Especial Federal Previdenciário de Curitiba (the Special Federal Court for Social Security in Curitiba) in which the main complaint was shoulder pain and the ultrasonography findings were according to the study goals. The results were evaluated considering the clinical signs, the ultrasonography findings and the expert conclusions about work disability. Among the 21 individuals included in the study, there was correspondence between alterations found in exams and positive results of clinical tests in just 42.8% of cases. Of these, only 33% were defined as unable to work. This study concluded that only 14.3% of individuals with tendinopathy and bursopathy findings were considered unable to work, which indicates that isolated findings of shoulder ultrasonography are not enough for the assessment of technical ability to work.