 Over 50% of people over the age of 80 have torn rotator cuffs and they don't even know it because they don't have any symptoms. Probably because they don't do a lot, but the tears are not too unlike this hole in the seat of your pants. It's not that the tissue tore off, it's just missing. And so when you have a tear like this, trying to sew it back together, you can imagine the stitches sometimes don't hold or don't heal. The good news and bad news though, is depending on your activity, you can actually function pretty well.