shoulder tendons

Six weeks ago I had my third shoulder surgery where the surgeon removed a loose stitch and scar tissue. He said everything else looked fine and it feels a lot better and my range of motion has returned. I am so far pleased with the outcome. He did say my tendons in that shoulder were thinner than my right shoulder, but I should be fine barring any traumatic injury. My question is can thin tendons be thickened by exercise like building a muscle?  I have been a weightlifter for many years and look forward to returning to the Gym. I have been doing my physical therapy exercises for the last five weeks. Thank you for your response.

[Michael L Gross, MD]

While I am unaware of any study directly linking exercise to thickening of tendons, I am sure that the orator cuff responds like all soft tissue.  That is by doing corrective exercise that are performed in line with the tissue will help to strengthen the tissue and lay down more organized tissue in response to the activity performed.  The other benefit of exercise will be to strengthen the surrounding tissues and assist them is compensating for any continuing weakness in the rotator cuff.

[sugardaddy1]

Makes sense, I will definitely continue with bands and light dumbbells until I regain some strength. Thank you very much for your response.