Shoulder pain is suffered by many individuals and is associated with various common causes. It is crucial to identify the causes of your shoulder pain and get suitable treatment as early as possible. Knowing what is causing your shoulder pain is vital to getting the right shoulder treatment quickly.

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Rotator Cuff Treatment

Often with Rotator Cuff injuries your doctor or therapist will advise complete rest or extremely limited activity, followed by gradual shoulder strengthening exercises and physical therapy.

There are several treatment options for rotator cuff tears.

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Rotator Cuff Tear Symptoms

Unless cased by a sudden accident, Rotator cuff tear symptoms usually appear slowly.

Rotator cuff pain may be really mild at the start and gradually increase with repeated overhead activity. The pain is usually felt at the front of your shoulder and spreads down the arm. The pain gradually increases and is felt at very little activity or even at rest.

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Causes of Rotator Cuff Tear

A torn rotator cuff is often caused by a sudden and acute fall.

People most likely to suffer a torn rotator cuff are those whose jobs involve repetitive overhead movement, such as construction, stocking shelves or even painting.

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What are the alternatives to Rotator Cuff Surgery?

Rotator cuff repairs can be achieved by surgery, but in some cases surgery may not be necessary to repair the rotator cuff.

Non-surgical treatment is usually appropriate for people who suffer from shoulder pain without a decrease in shoulder strength caused by the rotator cuff injury.

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Before deciding to have Rotator Cuff Surgery make sure that you have considered other treatment options such as shoulder exercises and pain relief injections first.

Shoulder surgery is however sometimes required for rotator cuff tears, especially if accompanied with a decrease in strength of the affected shoulder joint. There are three types of surgical repair:

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As I explained in my last post, often symptoms of rotator cuff tears appear slowly. The pain is often mild at first and gradually builds up.

If, however, the rotator cuff snaps suddenly because of a fall or fracture, one can usually feel the snapping of the muscle and an instantaneous weakening of the arm.

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Rotator cuff tear symptoms usually show up slowly. Pain may be really mild at first and gradually increases.

The pain is usually felt at the front of your shoulder and spreads down the arm. Mild shoulder pains are often ignored and treated with over the counter prescriptions. However, in the case of rotator cuff tear, the pain gradually increases and is felt even with very little activity or at rest. Treatment and even rotator cuff surgery may be required.

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In most cases the answer is “No”, you don’t need surgery for rotator cuff injuries. Non-surgical treatments are effective in curing most rotator cuff disorders.

Treatment options for rotator cuff injuries include the use of a sling for the affected arm, taking painkillers to relieve pain and inflammation, or a course of steroid injections.

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Do suffer from shoulder pain? Have given up exercising your shoulder because the exercises didn't work?

It may be that your shoulder exercises didn't work because they were the wrong exercises for your shoulder condition.

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