[Significance of plain radiography in shoulder pain diagnosis].

Shoulder pain is a common complaint--almost 20% of the population will suffer shoulder pain during their life time. Despite the availability of newer imaging techniques for evaluation of the shoulder, the first imaging study should be radiography. Recently, ultrasonography of the shoulder has become one of the first studies performed. Sometimes, ultrasonography is conducted before radiography; moreover, many patients are being referred to a shoulder specialist without performing an X-ray. There is a plethora of pathologies that can cause shoulder pain--rotator cuff tears, impingement syndrome, calcified tendinitis, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, neoplasms and more. This review aims to show the significance of plain radiography in the diagnosis of shoulder pathologies, in order to encourage the use of this modality. In this paper we shall review the different causes of shoulder pain and their radiographic characteristics.