title: The rotator crescent and rotator cable: an anatomic description of the shoulder's "suspension bridge".
abstract: Twenty fresh frozen cadaver shoulders were dissected in order to study the rotator cable-crescent complex. The rotator crescent is a term that we have used to describe the thin, crescent-shaped sheet of rotator cuff comprising the distal portions of the supraspinatus and infraspinatus insertions. The crescent was found to be bounded on its proximal margin by a thick bundle of fibers that we have called the rotator cable. This cable-crescent configuration was found to consistently span the insertions of supraspinatus and infraspinatus tendons. The dimensions of the rotator cable and crescent were measured by a digital micrometer. The rotator cable was found to be a very substantial structure, averaging 2.59 times the thickness of the rotator crescent that it surrounded. This anatomic study supports the concepts of stress-shielding of the rotator crescent by the stout rotator cable and stress transfer by this loaded cable system.
authors.affiliation: University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio.
authors.forename: S S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Burkhart
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Esch
authors.forename: R S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Jolson
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D006801:Humans; D008023:Ligaments, Articular / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D008875:Middle Aged; D017006:Rotator Cuff / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D000070599:Shoulder Injuries; D012785:Shoulder Joint / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D013710:Tendons / Q000033:anatomy & histology*