If you have ever felt a dull ache or sharp pain in your upper arm or shoulder, have trouble reaching into your back pocket or tucking in a shirt or are unable to get comfortable at night because of pain in your shoulder, then it is likely that you have damaged your rotator cuff.
Rotator cuff problems are one of the most common shoulder injuries. Over eight million Americans will go to their doctor with shoulder problems this year and nearly all of them will be problems such as tendonitis, bursitis and cuff tears. The rotator cuff comprises of four relatively small muscles that all run from the shoulder blade (scapula) to the head of the humerus or upper arm bome. Their job is to hold the arm into the socket of the joint stabilizing the shoulder as we move. They also help to move the shoulder whenever we rotate the arm.
The most common injury is to the supraspinatus tendon which is the one that we use to raise our arm and is at its most stressed when we lift our arms above shoulder height. With a supraspinatus tear you will have an ongoing pain in your upper arm with a sharp pain in your shoulder when you lift your arm. The arm will get weaker and you will have trouble lifting it as well as night time pain.
It may be, that rather than a rotator cuff tear, you have acute tendonitis which can give similar symptoms. The best way to check this is with an MRI scan.
You are more likely to need surgery if you have torn your rotator cuff. Tendonitis ,however, will nearly always respond well to rest, treatment with ice packs and anti-inflammatory drugs followed by rotator cuff exercises aimed at strengthening and rehabilitating the rotator cuff.
Tears are comparatively rare in younger people. They tend to come along with age as our muscles weaken although younger people who play repetitive overhead sports can be at risk. Swimmers, baseball players and gymnasts often suffer from rotator cuff tears.
Research has shown that a lot of people can function perfectly well with a rotator cuff tear. Much depends on the level of pain that you experience and the level of activity or type of activity that you intend to carry out. The main reason for surgery is to help with pain rather than to restore movement. Recovery from surgery can take up to eighteen months depending on the level of injury. Tendonitis on the other hand can usually be resolved within four to six weeks.
Which is why it is so important to treat shoulder problems sooner rather than later to avoid them getting worse.. If you ignore Tendonitis it can develop into a tear that will require a much longer rehabilitation time or even surgery to rectify.
One of the most important things, as we get older, is to stretch and condition our shoulders before we do any serious exercise with them. A few shoulder stretches done before playing baseball with the kids can save you from weeks of pain and inconvenience. And if you are over forty and still have healthy shoulders a few rotator cuff exercises will go a long way towards avoiding potential problems.
If you found this article interesting and would like to know more about rotator cuff exercises that fixed my shoulder check out my site at
http://myrotatorcuffcure.blogspot.com
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