The elbow is a very stable joint with bony anatomy that is rigid and locks it in place. In comparison, a shoulder joint can move around in many directions. The elbow flexes or brings the hand towards the face and it also extends which brings the hand away from the face. It has very little side to side motion and rotation. This jigsaw puzzle piece connection is in contrast to the shoulder which has ligaments that allow it to move in all...

Biology lesson: tendons attach muscles to bone. Anytime a tendon attaches a muscle to a bone, that tendon can pull away from the bone. Sometimes it can partially tear from the bone, and sometimes it can fully detach. When it comes to hamstring tears, we are usually talking about the origin in the buttock on the sit bone (or ischial tuberosity). There are several hamstring tendons: semi membranous, semitendinosus, and biceps femoris (because it...

I want to update biceps tenodesis as the treatment of some conditions has evolved over time. Studies show that this procedure is a very reliable procedure for people with SLAP (superior labral anterior-posterior) tears, biceps labral complex tears, or even biceps tendonitis that has not improved with conservative measures. People who have pain in the front of the shoulder over the biceps tendon radiating down the arm to the muscle belly are...

Distal biceps tears are exceedingly common mostly from a sudden contraction of one’s biceps against a moderate to heavyweight. People will feel a pop in the elbow with a noticeable deformity where the biceps retracts towards the shoulder leaving a lump at the biceps and a loss of biceps tissue near the elbow. The muscle pulls the tendon proximally or towards the shoulder and therefore it looks abnormal at the elbow. Injury mechanisms have been...

Fighting chronic disease through diet and exercise; Dr. Sean Rockett and wife, Dr. Ronda Rockett operate CrossFit Launchpad in Wellesley, Massachusetts, where they are helping prevent and fight chronic disease. Watch the “Rockett Science” video at CrossFit Launchpad

Calcific tendinitis is a very common condition for shoulder pain. The pain can be sudden and dramatic, often debilitating. People usually experience severe pain in the front or down the side of the shoulder. Patients have trouble lifting their arm up and finding a comfortable position. There is usually no history of trauma and a cause for the calcium deposit is usually never found. There are some associated conditions in the literature but the...

“I can’t exercise anymore. You see, I have arthritis.” I’ve had many patients enter my exam room, look me straight in the face and say that. My mind drifts to some of the videos I’ve seen in the CrossFit Journal that show adaptive athletes and morbidly obese people exercising. On further questioning, I find the patients are usually referring to hip or knee arthritis—the most common forms of arthritis—and I proceed to ask about their...