The suprasinatus muscle is part of the rotator cuff complex. The tendon connecting this weak muscle to the bone is more problematic to fix, although newer arthroscopic methods have helped decrease recovery time. (It used to be that you’d need to have your deltoid detached during open surgery to access the tendon, but now that can be avoided in most cases). The bad news is the recovery is more in the 6 month range, and full strength may not be restored (i.e. heavy shoulder lifting) for up to and past 1 year. Apparently, this tendon is much less vascularized than many others, is slow to heal, and the technique of sewing the tendon back together and attaching it back to the bone combined with the low amount of blood flow leads to a longer recovery time.
A full-thickness tear (as opposed to a partial-thickness tear) essentially means that there is a hole in the tendon. Some piece has pulled away from the bone but it hasn’t completely ruptured/detached. If that were the case the muscle would have rolled up under my clavicle. Some smaller tears may resolve with rest and therapy, but the full-thickness tear will not. Structurally speaking, the muscle is pulling at the tendon from both pieces of tendon on either side of the tear. That tension along with the size of the tear make it impossible for self-correction. There is some evidence emerging in Canada and the UK about using stem cell injections to encourage regrowth of connective tissue, but it is not approved here in the States.
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