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Shoulder Tendonitis
The Rotator Cuff Kind

What is Shoulder Tendonitis?

Tendonitis of the Shoulder is another way of saying it, but that's not very accurate.

A more accurate question is..."What is Rotator Cuff Tendonitis?"

Rotator Cuff Tendonitis is:

"Having Inflammation and wear and tear injury (tendonitis) on one or more of the tendons of the muscles that make up the 'rotator cuff'."

This can be caused by repetitive strain injury, but you can have inflammation and pain without any repetitive strain or wear and tear. You can have tendonitis with shoulder injury, or without.

The Definition doesn't matter that much

Most definitions you will find on the internet describe Rotator Cuff Tendonitis as tendonitis of a specific tendon.

This isn't true.

The Rotator Cuff is made up of several muscles and tendons that stabilize and mobilize the shoulder/arm.

What you really need to know is that:

One or all of those tendons can get tendonitis. And the muscle and connective tissue is just a much a player in shoulder injury as the tendon is.

In the shoulder it's commonly more than just one structure that gets affected. One tendon might have it worse, but it's never isolated to just one tendon.

Call it what you want, Shoulder Injury, Repetitive Strain Injury, Rotator Cuff Tendonitis or Rotator Cuff Injury, if there's no significant rip or tear, then you're looking at the usual handful of factors that all go together to create the Tendonitis dynamic.

How it all works.

There are several muscles that work with the shoulder ligaments to hold the arm securely in the socket, as well as to allow movement.

The Supraspinatus
The Infraspinatus
Teres Minor
Subscapularus

The Ligaments provide static (non-mobile) support and stability to the shoulder joint.

The Muscles provide movement and stability, and tendons attach muscle to bone.

Shoulder Tendonitis can be a source of chronic shoulder pain.

You also could have shoulder problems from a Pulled Chest Muscle (which is really a tendon injury, potentially the tendon that attaches to the shoulder, one of the shoulder cuff muscles and tendons).

Graphic of Left Shoulder Tendonitis pain.

Like all Tendonitis, if you have shoulder pain from shoulder tendinitis, Rest will help temporarily, but if you start using your shoulder again in the ways that caused you to get rotator cuff tendonitis in the first place, the pain will return.

Shoulder Tendinitis pain can be in an isolated hot spot that hurts when you are using your arm and shoulder to perform some activity.

If it is chronic and/or severe tendonitis, you can experience neck and shoulder pain, as all the surrounding muscles start compensating for the injury.

Either way, it won't show up on an X-ray.

If you have rotator cuff pain that is from -only- from Tendonitis, then it is unlikely that rotator cuff surgery will be of benefit to you in the long run.

Dealing with the wear and tear tendon injury and the Process of Inflammation that comes with it is the best option in that case.

If one of your rotator cuff muscles has torn tendon, depending on the damage, then rotator cuff surgery might be a good idea. Consult your Doctor.

You can have pain in your left shoulder, pain in your right shoulder, or both. It depends on what activities you are performing that caused the Shoulder Tendonitis and its

Pain Causing Dynamic.

If the ecology of the shoulder tendonitis gets bad enough, this can set you up for Calcific Tendonitis.

Shoulder injuries can be confusing to tell apart.

Depending on the source of the damage, the type of damage, your physical health, damage can show up in different ways.

What Shoulder Tendonitis is NOT

Shoulder Tendinitis is NOT:

A Shoulder Dislocation

A dislocation happens when the ball joint leaves the socket. This stretches the ligaments of the shoulder joint. This stretching can be permanent.

A Shoulder Separation

A 'Shoulder Separation' actually involves the Acromio-Clavicular joint (the AC joint), and has nothing to do with the shoulder's ball joint.

A Shoulder Subluxation

This is a partial dislocation, coming out of joint 'a little bit' as opposed to all the way.

In my book, anything more than 'a little bit' can be a big problem as it stretches the ligaments that hold the joint in place.

Shoulder Bursitis

Shoulder Tendinitis is often mistakenly called Shoulder Bursitis.

It is not. Bursitis is inflammation of the bursa, which is a kind of padding/friction reducer.

A Shoulder Impingement. A Shoulder Impingement can eventually show up as a side effect of certain Rotator Cuff Tendonitis cases, or it can show up with out any Tendonitis involvement.

A SLAP Tear

A SLAP tear occurs at the point where the tendon of the biceps muscle inserts on the labrum (the socket where the arm bone meets the shoulder bones). A SLAP tear is a specific type of labral tear this stands for Superior Labrum from Anterior to Posterior.

A Frozen Shoulder

True Frozen Shoulder is rare.