Genes May Help Drive Rotator Cuff Injury(nt a future rotator cuff tear. Or perhap...),Health

Dr. Ken Yamaguchi, a professor of orthopaedic surgery at Washington University in St. Louis, believes the study provides "extremely important information."

"The prevalence of rotator cuff disease is incredibly large," he noted. "It's a huge public health problem in the U.S., given that by the age of 65, about 50 percent of the population actually has rotator cuff injuries, even if most don't know it because they don't hurt or have profound weakness or any symptoms. So understanding why it happens is fundamental to perhaps figuring out how to intervene."

"And all of our research so far," Yamaguchi added, "has shown that rotator cuff disease is much more of an age-related process. That it is not related so much to injury, but is part of a much more gradual and degenerative process that for some reason affects some, but not others. So here it's hard to argue with what this study shows. It's very convincing data."

More information

There's more on rotator cuff problems at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.

SOURCES: Robert Tashjian, M.D., shoulder and elbow surgeon, and assistant professor, department of orthopaedics, University of Utah, School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, Utah; Ken Yamaguchi, M.D., Sam and Marilyn Fox distinguished professor, orthopaedic surgery, Washington University, St. Louis; American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons annual meeting, Las Vegas, Feb. 25-28, 2009