'If he thought that I was going to go and hurt myself, he had another thing coming': Treatment experiences of those with large to massive rotator cuff tears and the perspectives of healthcare practitioners.

Findings are experiences, not evidence that any treatment works or does not work. Only 12 patients and 11 healthcare practitioners were included, all from Ireland, so the themes may not apply elsewhere. Patients were self-selected and recruited partly through clinicians they already knew, and the interviewer was a physiotherapist, which may have led them to over-emphasise physiotherapy or exercise. Focus groups were conducted up to one year after surgery, so recall about treatment and education may be inaccurate. Patients had different care pathways, so the contribution of any single component cannot be separated. No occupational therapists or speech-language pathologists were interviewed, so the paper does not directly test their care.

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest. The study was funded by an Irish Research Council postgraduate scholarship.

Do not read these themes as proof that a specific exercise, pain medication or surgical pathway is effective. This qualitative study asked patients and clinicians how care was experienced, and patients had different treatments, so it cannot show which treatment caused improvement or harm.