Rotator Cuff tear
What is the rotator cuff?
The rotator cuff is made up of a group of small shoulder muscles that control the Ball and socket joint of our shoulder, creating stability and letting us move our arm freely.
There are four main muscles, called your Supraspinatus, Infraspinatus, Teres Minor and Subscapularis which we remember with the acronym S.I.T.S.
So, what is a rotator cuff tear?
When we talk about a tear in the rotator cuff we’re talking about a tear in the fibres of one or multiple of the rotator cuff muscles.
Tears can vary from mild to severe depending on how much of the muscle is torn and how many muscles are injured
Symptoms:
Pain on or around the shoulder blade
Pain that shoots down the top of the upper arm
Weakness on some shoulder movements like twisting or turning your arm and lifting the arm up to the side
Sharp pain on lifting your arm or reaching
Possibly some swelling and/or bruising depending on severity
You may feel clicking and grinding in the shoulder on movements
Pain when steering wheel, opening jars, chopping veggies
Should I be concerned?
Definitely not!
Rotator cuff tears can be treated with physio, massage and exercise to get you back on track.
In the majority of cases there is no need for any scans or other medical intervention as we can diagnose and treat rotator cuff tears in the clinic!
In the unlikely event we think you do need scans or to see another medical professional we can refer you for them from the clinic.
What should you do?
DON’T ‘just rest it’ and hope it goes away!
Speak to your physio in order to understand your injury thoroughly and discuss strengthening and reconditioning. We need to re-strengthen the torn muscle in the most safe and effective way.
You may also benefit from hands on treatment with our Remedial Massage therapist to release muscles that get tight protecting the injury
Avoid anti-inflammatory and pain medication if it’s not necessary as we can accidentally make injuries worse if we can’t feel them! Injuries are painful for a reason and it’s important to listen to our bodies messages!
Be patient! Tendon/ Muscle tears take a little time to get back to normal so allow your body the time to heal
Try this release technique to loosen your rotator cuff muscles
Just pop the spikey ball or tennis ball against the wall and lean into it so that it digs in on and around your shoulder blade.
You might find you hit some “trigger points” (Tight and sore spots in the muscles) that radiate some pain into your upper arm and this is normal and nothing to worry about. Don’t go above a 6/10 on the pain scale when trying this release. Let your health professionals help you out in your rehabilitation journey.
a Rotator cuff exercise to start getting you on the right track!
Talk to us today on how to get you on the road to recovery.