Rotator Cuff Injuries

Rotator Cuff Injuries The rotator cuff is a group of 4 muscles, the supraspinatus, infraspinatus, subscapularis, and the teres minor. These muscles helps to lift your shoulder up over your head and also rotate it toward and away from your body. Unfortunately, it is also a group of muscles that is frequently injured by tears, tendonitis, impingement, bursitis, and strains. The major muscle that is usually involved is the supraspinatus muscle. Rotator Cuff Injuries are usually broken up into the following categories. Rotator Cuff Tendonitis usually occurs in people 30-80 years of age, and the weakness in the shoulder is only mild to moderate. Rotator cuff tendonitis, also knows as " shoulder bursitis" or "impingement syndrome" occurs when the rotator cuff gets irritated on the undersurface of the acromion. The reason this begins is the source of some debates. Some physicians say people are born with a "hooked" acromion that will predispose them to this problem. Others have rotator cuff weakness that causes the humerus to ride up and pinch the cuff. This means that the bursa, a water-balloon type structure that acts as a cushion between the rotator cuff and acromion/humerus, gets inflamed. Rotator Cuff Tear occurs usually in people who have had tendonitis for a while in the rotator cuff. It gets so bad that it wears a hole through the rotator cuff tendon and it starts to experience more weakness. It can also happen in someone who tries to lift something too heavy and feels a pop in the shoulder. Since the tendon is what connects the rotator cuff muscle to your humerus bone, when the tendon is torn, you have weakness in the shoulder. Usually these tears occur in people who have had shoulder pain for some time called a "chronic rotator cuff tear". This is, by far, the most common type of rotator cuff tear. However, tears sometimes happen in people who do not have a history of shoulder problems. These people try to lift something that is too heavy and feel a pop