HGFA Skysailor Magazine

SKY SAILOR 7 March | April 2019 Injury, age and safer flying An orthopaedic specialist (upper arm and shoulder surgeon) told me that the shoulder has the largest range of movement of any joint in the body. The shoulder has a tendon and muscle structure called the rotator cuff which controls all of the movement for the shoulder and arm. You don’t necessarily damage your rotator cuff flying. More often it is damaged by another physical activity such as working, sports, bike riding, etc. The symptoms are not limited to but include: catch points when raising the arm, pain, instability, and in severe cases difficulty performing day-to-day activities. The two causes of rotator cuff tears are injury and degeneration. In our younger years (up to the 40s), minor tendon damage heals in a few weeks and with a bit of physiotherapy your shoulder feels as good as new. What we don’t realise is that the tear becomes scar tissue and a weak spot in the tendon. The other tendons and muscles compensate for this weakness, giving us a false sense of belief that all is well and good once more. However, as we age past the 40s mark, the body is not able to repair the tendon damage as well as previously. As we approach our 50s and 60s, we find that shoulder pain, tendon damage and shoulder restriction become more common as the scar tissue gives way and the tendon again tears. Unfortunately, our ability to fly safely and comfortably, particularly when flying an intermediate or high performance glider, can be Above the inversion on a blue sky day