

Tendinosis, otherwise known as tendinopathy, of the shoulder is a disorder of a tendon of the shoulder joint. Tendons connect muscle to bone; ligaments connect bone to bone. Tendinosis is distinctly different from tendinitis which is an inflammation of tendon usually from an acute injury. Tendinosis on the other hand, is a degenerative condition from the wearing away of collagen over time as a result of chronic overuse. Collagen is the material that makes up a tendon. While these two conditions are similar and often present the same, it is important for an accurate diagnosis to be made in order to decide on the best treatment strategy for your shoulder. Tendinosis is often misdiagnosed as tendonitis. It is now thought that inflammation (the ‘itis’ of tendinitis) plays a small role in tendon injuries and that the majority of cases of pain involving shoulder musculature are a result of tendinosis rather than tendinitis.
Tendinosis is a chronic overuse of muscle injury. This disorder usually presents in a rotator cuff muscle when the shoulder is involved. Tendons have minimal blood supply and thus their rate of healing is slow. With tendinosis, the tendons are being broken down and worn away at a faster rate than the cells of the tendon are able to produce new collagen in order to replace the damaged parts. Some causes include:
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The symptoms that you may experience as a result of tendinosis of the shoulder may be one or all of the following:
One example as to the reason that is so critical to obtain an accurate diagnosis of tendinosis differentiating it from tendinitis is because some treatments aimed at healing the inflammation associated with tendinitis will actually hinder the recovery of tendinosis. For instance, the popular NSAID (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug) Ibuprofen has been shown to inhibit collagen production and repair. The proper treatments for a diagnosis of tendinosis are: