CHRONIC FUNCTIONAL LESIONS OF THE SHOULDER

Abstract

It is difficult to find a title sufficiently noncommittal and inclusive and yet specific enough to designate the things I wish to consider. The word chronic in the title is used in a literal sense and entirely without any implication of disease, although some of the bony changes associated with these lesions simulate some of those commonly attributed to arthritis. I believe that the lesions here considered are not primarily or to any considerable degree due to the extraordinary uses to which the upper extremities are put but are caused merely by the ordinary, often repeated, everyday uses. They are hour to hour, day to day, month to month, year to year and decade to decade effects. It must not be overlooked, however, that some of the structures affected by function may be weakened gradually and eventually rupture under relatively slight strains, evoking symptoms out of all proportion to the