Shoulder Injury Related to Vaccine Administration: Isolated Teres Minor Tear

Shoulder Pain and Dysfunction After Vaccination

“…Between these extremes, there are also a number of reported cases in which patients develop prolonged pain and weakness or nerve dysfunction after vaccine administration, often near the site of inoculation (which in adults is most commonly the deltoid muscle) 3-7 . Given the anatomy of the deltoid, several structures are at risk of injury with either needle overpenetration or an incorrect inoculation technique, and there have been multiple published reports of injury or inflammation of many of these structures, including the subacromial bursa 8-12 , axillary nerve 13-15 , radial nerve 16 , rotator cuff tendons 17-21 , and glenohumeral joint 22,23 .…”

“…However, rather than being a specific medical diagnosis, it is a medicolegal term broadly defined as shoulder pain and reduced range of motion that begins within 48 hours after vaccination in a patient without previous shoulder symptoms. It encompasses multiple different diagnoses (subacromial bursitis 25-27 , rotator cuff injury 17,18 , adhesive capsulitis 28 , biceps tendinitis 28 , pseudoseptic arthritis 22 , humeral head edema and/or lesions 23 , etc. ), but it fails to include all shoulder pathologies that can result from vaccine administration; in particular, it excludes nerve dysfunction from either direct nerve injury or immune-mediated injury.…”