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Background: Rotator cuff related shoulder pain is a common musculoskeletal complaint with an increasing number of people with shoulder pain undergoing surgical repair each year. The relationship between rotator cuff tendon tears and shoulder pain remains equivocal due to the high prevalence of tears in people without symptoms, which suggests that a proportion of people will undergo surgery on tissues not related to their symptoms. As a result there have been suggestions to initially manage atraumatic tears non-surgically. Objectives: The objective of this narrative review was to present current evidence regarding the assessment and management of full-thickness rotator cuff tears. Major Findings: To date three randomised controlled trials have compared surgical with non-surgical management of rotator cuff tears. Outcomes show a small but non-significant effect in favour of surgery. Only one study has looked at long term outcomes of greater than one year. Overall 129 subjects have completed a course of non-surgical management and therefore low participant numbers may not be sufficient to draw firm conclusions. Conclusions: Current evidence currently supports the consideration of a non-surgical approach in the management of people with shoulder symptoms and identified rotator cuff tears, for a 2 period of time.

Isometric pull-down exercises lead to an increase in the acromio-humeral distance in asymptomatic males that may be clinically important, and therefore may be an appropriate exercise for patients with shoulder pathology. Ultrasound measurement of the acromio-humeral distance in 90° shoulder flexion is practical and reliable.

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At the reference section of the Juana Lopez Member of the Mancos Shale near La Ventana in central New Mexico, the unit is thick and well exposed. In 1966, Dane and others reported a reference section of 107 ft thick, the same thickness as the type section at Galisteo Dam. The Juana Lopez consists of three lithic intervals--lower calcarenites, middle shale and upper calcarenites, and is underlain by the Carlile Member of the Mancos Shale. Only the upper part of the Carlile Member is exposed at La Ventana, and the Semilla Sandstone Member is very thin. The ammonite fauna from the Carlile and Semilla includes Prionocyclus hyatti (Stanton), Coilopoceras springeri Hyatt, Romaniceras (Romaniceras) mexicanum Jones and Placenticeras cumminsi Cragin. The ammonite fauna from the Juana Lopez includes Scaphites whitfieldi Cobban, Prionocyclus novimexicanus (Marcou), Prionocyclus macombi Meek, Coilopoceras colleti Hyatt and Baculites sp. Ammonite diversity in the upper calcarenite interval of the Juana Lopez is lower than at the type section. It includes primarily P. novimexicanus, secondarily S. whitfieldi, and rarely Baculites sp. The middle shale interval, as at the type section, has a low diversity ammonite fauna dominated by P. macombi with an occasional C. colleti. The P. hyatti Zone, present in the Carlile Member at La Ventana, also occurs in other places in New Mexico, especially in the Carlile Member at Galisteo Dam. The P. macombi and P. novimexicanus zones are present in the Juana Lopez Member at La Ventana. The P. macombi Zone also occurs in many other places in New Mexico, including the basal part of the Juana Lopez Member in Colfax County where the lectotype of P. macombi was collected. The zone of P. novimexicanus also occurs at various New Mexico locations, especially in the D-Cross Member of the Mancos Shale. The P. hyatti Zone is of middle Turonian age, the P. macombi Zone is of late-middle Turonian age, and the P. novimexicanus Zone is of late Turonian age.