Shoulders are vulnerable to injury. Whenever possible, physical therapies are the main line of treatment. Massage and chiropractic treatments that guide healing may be supplemented with pain medications. If these health strategies prove inefficient, or if the shoulder injury is severe enough, surgery may be required to correct the problem.

Shoulder arthroscopy is primarily an exploratory and diagnostic, minimally-invasive surgery. A handheld instrument called an arthroscope, with a tiny camera at one end, is inserted into a small incision. Using the inserted camera, the surgeon can view the interior structure of the shoulder. Minute tools within the arthroscope also allow surgeons to make repairs to or extract damaged tissues. Arthroscopic shoulder surgery is common; 1.4 million patients receive this treatment each year.

Rotator cuff repair is also very common. In fact, a torn rotator cuff is the most common injury in the shoulder area. The rotator cuff is composed of muscle tissues that encircle the main shoulder joint. This large joint isn't quite a ball-and-socket, but it has a similarly wide range of rotating motion. It's this rotator, so to speak, with its range of motion that often leads to damage in the sleeve-like structure or "cuff" of muscle tissues that surrounds it.