Orthopedic Shoulder and Elbow Surgeon. Engineer. Edmonds, Washington
I want to say congratulations to NASA and SpaceX for the first successful crew launch in the United States since the retirement of the space shuttle program. It's an exciting day for all lovers of space and space travel.
Could artificial muscles be an answer for chronic rotator cuff tears? This is a question that I couldn't help but ask myself while reading this fascinating article. The rotator cuff is a collection of 4 muscles and tendons that allow us to raise our arms. As many know, chronic (old) rotator tears are a very difficult problem to treat and can lead to severe disability in patients.
Shoulder specialists have been trying for years to determine the optimum treatment for chronic rotator cuff tears. Our current treatment for old rotator cuff tears is evolving and may include a simple "clean out" of the joint, placing a graft where the rotator cuff tendon was (a superior capsule reconstruction) or a reverse shoulder replacement. No one solution achieves return to full function due to the fact that rotator muscles atrophy and are no longer functional.
Artificial muscles may allow us the ability to transplant and replace the atrophied rotator cuff muscles and regain significant function. Although this research is very exciting, I would be remiss to say that this artificial muscle research is still in it's infancy and has not, to my knowledge, been proposed for use in shoulder surgery, so stay tuned.
I will continue to research this and other treatments and devices here and on my upcoming website the orthopedicfuturist.com.