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Do You Know the Torn Rotator Cuff Symptoms and Know How To Treat Them?
Torn rotator cuff symptoms are fairly simple to identify but getting it wrong or ignoring them can lead to a lot more serious problems, so what are the symptoms and what should you do if you have them.
The rotator cuff is a group of four relatively small muscles that help to stabilise and move the shoulder joint. Most of the time you are not aware of them and it is only when we manage to damage one of them that we are reminded, usually painfully, that they are there.
Their job is to pull the head of the humerus or upper arm into the socket of the shoulder to prevent us from dislocating our shoulder and also to help when we rotate our arms.
The shoulder socket is very shallow which allows us the wide range of movement that we have but it also gives the shoulder its inherent weak point. Each of the four muscles of the rotator cuff is attached to the shoulder blade at one end and attaches to the humerus at the other. All of them take a different route depending on where, on the humerus, they attach. Together they form a cuff of muscles around the joint stabilising it, hence the name.
Torn rotator cuff symptoms can start with a dull ache in the shoulder which spreads down the arm. You will almost certainly experience pain when trying to lift the arm to the side or front and may have difficulty reaching behind you, to tuck in clothing for example. The arm will become weaker and the pain can quickly become debilitating. One test is to try to slowly lift your arm whilst someone else pushes gently against it. If this hurts then you almost certainly have torn a rotator cuff muscle.
A torn rotator cuff can happen in a number of different ways. You might start out with shoulder tendonitis with just occasional pain or a dull ache, perhaps after work or exercise. This is caused by one of the tendons becoming inflamed and is usually treated with rest and anti-inflammatory drugs or ice packs.
Shoulder tendonitis if left untreated can eventually lead to a shoulder impingement. This comes about when tendon becomes so swollen that it is getting pinched when you move. This is more serious and although the treatment is almost identical to tendonitis the timescales involved can be longer. It is important to treat a shoulder impingement as if this is ignored it may well lead to a rotator cuff tear as the tendon gets worn by the rubbing action.
A knock or fall can also result in a rotator cuff tear or injury. Any sports or work activity that involves a lot of overhead reaching can bring on the symptoms.
The simplest advice is that if you have had shoulder pain that has gone on for more than three days or is getting worse with time, it is best to get it checked out by a professional. The sooner you start treatment the less likely you are to make things worse and the quicker the recovery will be.
Treatment, if started early, usually means resting, treating the inflammation with anti-inflammatory drugs and ice packs and then starting some shoulder specific exercises to strengthen the rotator cuff and surrounding muscles.
There are a few of us who who may have a genetic disposition to rotator cuff problems. If you fall into this category or if you have managed to get a particularly bad tear, you may need corrective surgery but this is actually quite rare and usually only done after conservative treatments have failed.
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