PTS can manifest with severe pain in the shoulder or arm, followed by numbness and weakness.

[6] This syndrome can begin with severe shoulder or arm pain followed by weakness and numbness.

[9] The differential focuses on distinguishing it from similar entities such as quadrilateral space syndrome, which involves the teres minor and variably the deltoid, and suprascapular nerve impingement at the spinoglenoid notch, which predominantly involves the infraspinatus.

[8] Despite its wasting and at times long-lasting effects, most cases are resolved by the body's healing system, and recovery is usually good in 18–24 months, depending on how old the person in question is.

[11] It is named after British neurologists Maurice Parsonage and John Turner,[12][13] who described 136 cases in a 1948 Lancet publication.