Tendons are fibrous tissue that attaches muscles to bone. A strain is an injury of a muscle and or tendon. In severe strains, the muscle and or tendon are partially or completely ruptured . A common example is a tear in the rotator cuff. The rotator cuff is comprised of four principal muscles which stabilize the shoulder joint: supraspinatus, infraspinatus, teres minor and subscapularis.
What causes strains? Strains can result from overuse of muscles and tendons, excessive muscle contraction or trauma. Medications can also cause tendon damage. Cholesterol lowering medications called statins have been linked with tendinitis. Common statins include Lipitor, Lovastatin and Simvastatin(Zocor).
Antibiotics are also been associated with tendon injury. The FDA has issued an warning for those using Fluoroquinolones which include Cipro, Factive, Floxina and Levaquin which have been associated with tendonitis and tendon tears.
If you have sustained tendon tears as a result of medication or trauma, surgery is not the only alternative. Regenexx is a novel therapy that utilizes a patients own stem cells to repair damaged tendons. It is a simple needle-in, needle-out procedure that allows the patients to avoid the risks of surgery and anesthesia.
Please review the testimonial of a patient who had rotator cuff tears in both of her shoulders, who underwent surgery on one side and opted to treat her other tear with stem cell therapy at Regenexx.
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