Abstract：Objective：To observe the clinical effect of the therapy of acupotomy release combined with rehabilitation exercise on chronic rotator cuff injury. Methods： A total of 100 patients with chronic rotator cuff injury were selected and divided into the study group and the control group according to the random number table method， with 50 cases in each group. The control group was treated with acupotomy release， and the study group was treated with acupotomy release combined with rehabilitation exercise. The clinical effects and scores of Visual Analogue Scale(VAS)，Constant-Murley Score(CMS)，and 36-Item Short Form Health Survey(SF- 36) in the two groups were observed. Results：The total effective rate was 98.00% in the study group and 84.00% in the control group， the difference being significant(P＜0.05). Before treatment，the scores of CMS and VAS were compared between the two groups，there being no significance in the difference(P＞0.05). After treatment， the scores of CMS in the two groups were increased when compared with those before treatment， and the scores of VAS were decreased， differences being significant(P＜0.05)；the improvement of the above two scores in the study group was better than that in the control group(P＜0.05). Before treatment， the scores of health status， social function， physiological role， mental health， emotional function， physiological function， body pain and energy in SF-36 were compared between the two groups，there being no significance in the difference(P＜ 0.05). After treatment，the above eight scores in SF-36 in the two groups were increased when compared with those before treatment(P＜0.05)，and the above five scores in the study group were higher than those in the control group(P＜0.05). Conclusion：The therapy of acupotomy release combined with rehabilitation exercise for chronic rotator cuff injury can significantly reduce the pain of patients and improve the shoulder joint function and quality of life，with a definite clinical effect.