Shoulder Injuries: Rotator Cuff Tear

“The rotator cuff is a group of tendons that connects the four muscles of the upper shoulder to the bones.”1  The four muscles of  the rotator cuff are known as the infraspinatus, the subscapularis,  the teres minor, and the supraspinatus.  These muscles come together as tendons to cover the head of the humerus and help keep the shoulder in its socket.  “When the tendons or muscles of the rotator cuff tear, the patient is no longer able to lift or rotate his or her arm with the same range of motion they had prior to their injury.”1  For some people, rotator cuff tears happen as a result of the tendons weakening in the shoulder.  Other injuries happen when the shoulder is overused after high repetitions of overhead activities.  Some of these activities may include a tennis player constantly doing overhead serves, a quarterback repeatedly having to throw the ball, or even a powerlifter doing heavy overhead lifts.  A rotator cuff injury can also happen when somebody falls on an outstretched arm; which would be an example of an acute tear.  When an acute tear happens, there may be a “snapping sensation and immediate weakness.”2  When someone experiences a chronic tear, they will experience a little bit of pain when lifting their arm over their head.  Over time that little bit of pain will increase, and the movements that require you to raise you arm will become increasingly difficult.  In some cases, the rotator cuff will only slightly tear and no surgery would be required.  If this scenario happened to an athlete, the athlete could take medications, receive a cortisone steroid injection, and do some physical therapy and would still be able to play in his/her game as long as he/she could tolerate the pain.  When an athlete completely tears their rotator cuff, then that is when they would have to get surgery.  

Last year NBA star Kobe Bryant tore his rotator cuff and missed most of the 2014-2015 season as a result.  Kobe had a lot of damage done to his shoulder, from years of constant dunking and shooting.  But in a game against the New Orleans Pelicans in  January of 2015 he suffered from an acute tear after dunking the ball.  After Kobe dunked the ball, he started showing immediate signs of pain in his shoulder while running down the to the opposite end of the court.  Kobe finished the game and contemplated playing the rest of the season, but ultimately decided to have surgery.  Kobe missed the rest of the season, but successfully rehabbed and made it to the starting lineup at the start of the 2015-2016 season and to this point has not shown the viewers any pain on that shoulder.   Recovering from rotator cuff repair is not an easy process but can be done with patience and discipline.

References

1Rotator Cuff Tears. (n.d.). Retrieved February 21, 2016, from https://www.shoulderdoc.co.uk/article/61

2Rotator Cuff Tears-OrthoInfo - AAOS. (n.d.). Retrieved February 21, 2016, from http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=a00064

3Kobe Bryant expected out 9 months. (n.d.). Retrieved February 21, 2016, from http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/story/_/id/12244429/kobe-bryant-los-angeles-lakers-surgery-9-months