If you’re experiencing pain in your shoulder your tendons may be the culprit, Elizabeth Tracey reports

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Pain in the shoulder will be experienced by almost every adult at some point, especially as they age. Shoulder pain factors right up there with back and neck pain in terms of how common it is. Edward McFarland, head of shoulder surgery at Johns Hopkins, says most often the tendons around the shoulder play a big part.

McFarland: Oddly enough we're not really sure why tendons around your body degenerate but they probably have something to do with the fact that the cells in the tissues and things all mature and they just don't take the amount of stress that they took before and they also just don't heal as fast as they did before. Thirty to 40 is about when things start to unravel a little bit and it's very common, not only big athletes but in those of us who try to stay in shape there are a lot of non athletic people who seem to get shoulder problems even though they haven't really done very much.              :30

McFarland says if pain doesn’t resolve over several days with over the counter medicines and rest, seeing a shoulder expert and perhaps a physical therapist may be appropriate. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.