Inflammation of the supraspinatus tendon

Due to its location and strain, an inflammation in the area of the tendon of the supraspinatus muscle can occur quickly and repeatedly. Such inflammation is usually caused by overstraining the muscles in the shoulder region (e.g. lifting heavy loads) or by incorrect loading (incorrect lifting of loads). Symptoms of an inflamed tendon of the supraspinatus muscle are mainly stabbing or biting pains when lifting or turning the arm, sometimes with loss of strength and fine motor skills.

The most important measure in this context is first of all to avoid this type of movement. Furthermore, it can be tried to counteract the pain with cooling. If these measures are not sufficient, anti-inflammatory pain therapy in the form of ibuprofen or diclofenac should be used.

If inflammation of the tendon occurs repeatedly, a partly therapeutic, partly preventive treatment should be carried out by the physiotherapist. It helps to train the other muscles accordingly, thus relieving the tendon of the supraspinatus muscle. The use of a kinesiotape can also be useful.

In this case, an elastically adhesive tape is stuck to the natural course of the supraspinatus muscle and should ensure that the muscle is relieved and its movement is protected. The supraspinatus tendon stretches over the humeral head of the shoulder joint and is responsible for numerous movement, holding and stability processes in the shoulder region. It is exposed to many frictional and shearing forces every day.

As with all mechanically stressed tissue, the body tries to prevent corresponding wear and tear, which it does by thickening the tissue. On the one hand, this is useful, but on the other hand, it also causes further complaints. The body deposits calcium at highly stressed areas of the supraspinatus tendon, which is intended to serve as protection and stabilization.

This phenomenon is also called calcified shoulder. Since space is very limited in the shoulder joint, this thickening of the tendon quickly leads to a space problem: surrounding tissue, nerves and tendons of other muscles rub against the increasingly cold supraspinatus tendon, which also triggers frictional processes through its own movement. This tight space situation causes irritation of the supraspinatus tendon, which can also become inflamed if the movements are not reduced.

The patient describes a biting pain when the movement is pulled. After diagnosis, the therapy of choice is mainly temporary immobilization of the arm, cooling and anti-inflammatory pain treatment. If the complaints become chronic, a joint endoscopy with the removal of the calcifications should be considered.