Cell death and tendinopathy

Apoptosis is an active, often physiological, process distinguished from necrosis, the other form of cell death, in that the cells themselves decide to undergo apoptosis, or programmed cell death. Recently we found that the cells of injured rotator cuff tendons have much higher rates of apoptosis than the cells of uninjured tendons-an observation that may help explain why tendons exposed to excessive strain may become tendinopathic.