Movement-Evoked Pain and Temporal Summation in Individuals with Symptomatic Rotator Cuff Tears: A Cross-Sectional Study

Research has highlighted the importance of assessing movement-evoked pain (MEP) to elucidate the underlying mechanisms and refine treatments in musculoskeletal pain. Rotator cuff (RC) tears are a common cause of shoulder pain, and these patients often experience pain at rest, which worsens during arm movements. Temporal summation (TS) examines the neuronal mechanisms underlying ascending pain facilitation, which may be related to MEP in individuals with RC tears. Our objective was to explore the relationships among TS, pain at rest, and MEP in individuals with symptomatic RC tears. This study involved eighty-five participants diagnosed with symptomatic RC tears. Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient was used to assess the relationships among TS, pain at rest, and movement-evoked pain. Logistic regression was performed to determine the associations within the subgroups of individuals with acute and chronic pain. A weak correlation between the TS and MEP (r = 0.23) was observed. There was also a weak, statistically significant correlation between pain at rest and MEP (r = 0.30). However, there was no correlation between TS and pain at rest (r=0.04). These findings suggest that MEP and TS represent partially independent pain mechanisms in RC tear patients and should be assessed separately in clinical practice.