![]() ![]() The tendons of the shoulder “rotate” the ball in the socket, and are called the rotator cuff. It is stabilized by both ligaments (cords that attach to both ball and socket) and tendons (soft tissue attachments of muscle to bone). The ball of the shoulder joint moves against the socket, but because it “rests against” the socket, rather than being well contained in it, it is reliant on the soft tissues for both its stability and motion. Unlike the hip, also a ball-socket joint but one with a deep socket made for stability, the shoulder is made not for stability but motion - and has the most motion of any joint in the body. The upper end of the humerus is a ball, called the humeral head, which “rests against” the socket, a part of the scapula called the glenoid. The shoulder is made up of a number or interconnected bones. 1: X-ray showing osteoarthritis of the shoulder joint The normal, unaffected shoulder While literally arthritis therefore means “inflamed joint,” it has come to refer to any condition of the joint in which there is damage to the smooth cartilage covering a moving surface of a joint (called the articular cartilage), eventually leading to cartilage loss, in the end stage resulting in "bone on bone" of the joint surfaces, and pain.įig. "Itis" probably of Latin derivation, and refers to inflammation. While there is no cure for arthritis, there are many treatments, both nonsurgical and surgical, that enable the symptoms to be well treated and for patients to maintain active lifestyles.Īrthritis has its word origin from the Greek word, "arthron", meaning joint. However, as in the hip and knee, the loss of cartilage that characterizes shoulder arthritis is frequently a source of severe pain, limited function, joint stiffness, and significant diminishment of quality of life. After the hip and knee, the shoulder is the third most common joint affected by arthritis, perhaps because in most people, it is not a weightbearing joint, as are the large joints of the lower limbs. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |