Rotator Cuff Tears

Rotator Cuff Tears
The tendon and muscles connected in forming a cuff around the shoulder is responsible for keeping the humerus, or the upper arm, attached to the scapula, or the shoulder blade CITATION Jim06 \l 1033 (Johnson). This ‘cuff` in particular is referred to as the rotator cuff. The tendons of the rotator cuff maintain the shoulder, making sure it remains intact; meanwhile, its muscles are arranged in a manner allowing the shoulder to rotate.
Injuries to the rotator cuff are common when playing sports but not necessarily limited to that area. The condition of the rotator cuff can only be defined depending on how the injury has been obtained as well as the extent of the damage done. There are specific factors to be taken into consideration; hence, the variety of rotator cuff conditions. Most common among these conditions are tears.
More often than not, tears to the rotator cuff happen by accident or by natural cause that is degeneration CITATION Ame11 \l 1033 (American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons). Acute tears to the rotator cuffs happen when heavy objects, such as yourself, fall upon your outstretched arm; otherwise, when you force yourself to lift a heavy object and throw it in a jerking motion. Also, overwhelming yourself as when for instance you decide to play baseball and on your first time you wear yourself out by constantly practicing for hours with no rest; at most, you stretch and eventually tear a tendon or muscle in your shoulder. Taking on such weighty objects all of a sudden and fast - such as provided by the previous example - can seriously damage the rotator cuff.
On the other hand, there are natural causes to the strain of the shoulder; in particular, degeneration. Tears to the muscle-tendon units due to degeneration are typical as we age. Generally, it is the dominant arm most likely to be struck by this condition. For instance, a right-arm person will most likely experience the strains earlier on in his right arm than his left since the former is the one most often used. Then again, while it may be the dominant arm which will experience the strains earlier, the other arm wouldn`t be so far behind this experience as afterwards, it will also develop tears despite feeling no pain at the time. In this aspect, we find that there are external as well as internal factors which bring into effect this particular condition. These include the overuse of the shoulder muscle, such as when you play baseball; the constant stress applied can overwhelm the tendon-muscle unit in the shoulder. Also, lack of a healthy blood supply does not help relieve at all the stress applied on the muscle; unfortunately, as we age, our blood supply in the rotator cuff does not provide more but instead, becomes less. A shoulder impingement is also likely, when there are sudden bone spurs, there will be less space for the rotator cuff to breathe in; even more, the bone spurt rubs on the cuff hastening the damage to the tendons an...