Neurological Mechanisms Underlying Rotator Cuff Skeletal Muscle Pathophysiology and Implications for Therapy

Abstract

Introduction: Rotator cuff tears are a common cause of upper-extremity disability. For chronic, full-thickness, rotator cuff tears, repair surgery can be technically challenging due to large gap distances and increased stiffness of the muscle-tendon unit. In contrast, acute rotator cuff tears are associated with lower repair tensions, less fibro-fatty infiltration of the muscle, and better functional outcomes. Animal models can be used to understand rotator cuff muscle function and these results can be translated into clinical recommendations using computational modeling.