Neer Award 1999: Overuse activity injures the supraspinatus tendon in an animal model: A histologic and biomechanical study

Overuse activity has been implicated as an etiologic factor in injury to the rotator cuff and to the supraspinatus tendon in particular. Due in part to the lack of an appropriate animal model, experimental studies have not addressed this issue. With the use of a rat model, we measured the effects of an overuse running regimen on 36 Sprague-Dawley rats after 4 (n = 12), 8 (n = 12), or 16 (n = 12) weeks of exercise and compared them with a control...