Why is a soft tissues injury like a rotator cuff so debilitating unlike a broken bone?

Question

I’ve broken a few bones in my life and after a few weeks in a cast and maybe some physical therapy I was set to continue like the injury never happened. However last year I dislocated my shoulder and still continued to control the weight that caused the injury so it didn’t slam into the ground causing probably even more damage. After rest, doctor visits, and physical therapy I’m still feeling the effects of the injury. Why is it that a year after a broken bone it’s like it never happened, vs this soft tissue injury still being a problem?

In: Biology

Answer 1

Serious bone injuries – displaced and/or compound fractures – won’t heal properly without surgery either. By the time you’ve torn a joint up, it’s a pretty serious, relatively uncommon injury. The minor sprains *do* heal, although it can take a while depending on blood supply. 

We ask a lot out of our joints, much more than they evolved to deal with. Serious ankle damage is usually the result of a long fall, a car accident or high energy sports. And while we did have the ability to throw, the sort of stuff we do over our head to our shoulders is completely different in scale. 

Answer 2

Both are debilitating it just depends on what you injured

Broke my leg and tore my MCL on separate occasions. Broken leg wasn’t that painful but I physically could not walk for 4.5M

The MCL I just had to wear a brace and couldn’t workout for maybe 2.5/3M. However it was much more painful in everyday life

Answer 3

It depends on the bone, how it broke, and how it healed.  

Your body is basically made up of twigs and rubber bands. If one of the rubber bands snaps, the other rubber bands will keep pulling on it, and it will keep hurting. But the rubberbands aren’t actually strong enough to break the twigs.

So if a bone breaks cleanly, and heals well, you might never have a problem with it again after the cast is off, and it might stop hurting before that.

But tendons, muscles, ligaments… There’s no way to immobilize them. They pull on each other constantly, and all of them are strong enough to hurt each other.