It is estimated that 15 to 20% of French people will have to endure a shoulder pain at one time or another. “Among these pains, damage to the rotator cuff (tendinopathy and bursitis) is the most common. They represent between 44% and 65% of medical visits for painful shoulder syndrome.”, indicates the French Society for Shoulder Rehabilitation (SFRE). These attacks are characterized by a panel of symptoms which ranges from localized tingling to pain on movement through the loss of strength in the arm, the symptoms being dependent on the lesion and/or the inflammatory area.
Rotator cuff: what exactly is it?
Behind this original name hides in reality a set of four tendons (teres minor, supraspinatus, infraspinatus and subscapularis) which connect the shoulder muscles to the end of the humerus, the bone that runs from the shoulder to the elbow.
As mentioned above, tendinitis or tendinopathy (and bursitis which is generally caused by tendinitis) of the rotator cuff is a very common condition. It is distinguished by pain resulting from wear of the tendons, themselves fueled by repetitive movements (it is a pathology which particularly affects certain professions, it is also estimated that tendinitis of the rotator cuff affects 30% of employees over 50 years old) and favored by age, trauma, the practice of certain sports.
“In older subjects, a simple false movement during a harmless activity, such as hanging out laundry or lifting a shopping bag, may be enough”
L’inflammation of the tendons (tendinitis) can also degenerate into total or partial rupture tendons. Breakage which can also be the result of an impact or an accident.
Rotator cuff tear: a common problem after age 50
Partial or total rupture of the rotator cuff occurs following a fall or is (most often) resulting from wear of the tendons. In the latter case, it is more generally the supraspinatus tendon that is affected. The two causes can also add up.
“In older subjects, a simple false movement during a harmless activity, such as hanging laundry or lifting a shopping bag, may be enough.”, we learn on the site of the Tour hospital, a Swiss health establishment.
Surgery as a last resort?
Once the diagnosis has been made, the High Health Authority (HAS) recommends as a priority – for ruptures linked to degenerative tendinopathy – so-called functional care: medicinal treatment (anti-pain, anti-inflammatories) and physiotherapy.
This is the recommended option for seniors, generally preferred to surgery, unless the loss of mobility is too important.
If functional treatment fails, however, surgery is the only alternative. Several surgical techniques are proposed and today perfectly masteredbut the surgical aftermath can be long (immobilization of the elbow stuck to the body for 6 weeks then rehabilitation) and we are not immune to a recurrence, it is in fact the most common complication after a surgery. this guy. It would concern 20% of those operated on.
A new effective treatment to prevent recurrences
Under these conditions, the results of the study by Japanese researchers, published last September in the Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery are welcome!
Their conclusions? THE atmospheric plasmaa relatively new technique, but already used in medicine (dermatology for example) could be a real solution to prevent recurrences. Tested in this study on rabbits and more precisely on sutured lesions (like after surgery), the i atmospheric plasma irradiation gave good results: the researchers observed better regeneration of bone tissue and above all “that the force required to rupture the plasma-irradiated rotator cuff after 8 weeks is similar to that required in models with an intact cuff”, in other words before said on a healthy, non-operated joint.
