Doing certain sports, exercises, or just sleeping in an awkward position can hurt your shoulders, usually because your shoulder tendons will get soar. Most of the time, this heals as time passes, given you don’t repeat what caused the pain in the first place. However, some injuries will require more than just time to heal.
The most common injuries of shoulder tendons include sprains and tears of tendons, and while some can heal over time, others will require more radical measures, including surgery. In order to avoid something like this to happen, it’s important to know your limits. If you see that you can’t rotate your shoulder all the way you should be able to, or if a certain action that’s including your shoulder hurts, you should do a checkup, as this could indicate that an injury is already present. The tendon tears can be either partial or complete, where the partial will not sever the tendon, while the complete will split it into two pieces.
How does this happen?
If you have problems with your shoulder tendons, they will first begin with fraying. The damage will progress as time goes by, and the most probable moment for the tendon to tear is while lifting a heavy object. The most common spot for the injury to appear is the long head of the biceps tendon, but as it has two attachment spots, most people will be able to use it even if the long head tears completely. As for the causes of such injuries, the most common ones are falling hard, or outstretching your arm, or lifting an object that is too heavy. Another reason this can happen is overusing your arm and shoulder by repeating the same set of motions again and again. If you injure your shoulder, be it rotator cuff injuries, or impingement, or tendonitis, this will put more stress on the biceps tendon.
Risk Factors and Symptoms
The risk factors for injuries of shoulder tendons are age, overhead activities, smoking, cortisons and shoulder overuse. When people get older, there are more and more tears on their tendons. As for the overhead activities, too much weightlifting is one case that can cause problems, but there are also others, like any job that requires lifting things over your head, especially if done on a daily basis. Overusing usually happens due to some sports that require intense shoulder use, like tennis, or swimming. Nicotine will affect the nutrition your body requires, and your tendons will suffer under it too. The corticosteroid meds will increase the tendon and muscle weakness if used for too long. If you experience sharp pain in your upper arm, audible snaps or pops, cramping , bruising of the upper arm, tenderness, pain, weakness of the elbow and shoulder, you should visit your medical advisor and do some examinations in order to avoid further damage to your shoulder and your tendons. After all, you will need it as long as you live, so don’t waste time and ignore the pain in your shoulder.