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Rotator Cuff Injuries

Shivani 27-01-2025

Understanding Rotator Cuff Tears: Causes, Symptoms, and Treatment

One of the most common shoulder injuries that we see is the Rotator Cuff Tear.  It can be caused by sports and is common for people that play contact sports.  But what is it?  What’s the best treatment?  And how can you prevent it from happening?

What is a Rotator Cuff Tear?

Your shoulder is a joint that is built for frequent movement, but it needs a strong, healthy and stable structure around it to ensure it can work properly during every day activities such as driving, getting dressed and lifting objects. The rotator cuff is a group of four muscles and tendons that stabilise your shoulder joint and allow you to lift and rotate your arms. A rotator cuff tear occurs when one or more of these tendons are torn, either partially or completely. This injury can result from acute trauma, such as falling on your arm or a sudden contact such as a rugby tackle or car accident or from changes over time caused by making repetitive movements. 

Symptoms of a Rotator Cuff Tear

Common symptoms of a rotator cuff tear include:

Pain: A dull ache deep in the shoulder, which may worsen at night or with certain movements.

Weakness: Difficulty lifting or rotating your arm, making everyday tasks challenging.

Limited Range of Motion: Reduced ability to move your shoulder, often accompanied by a clicking or popping sound.

Causes and Risk Factors

Rotator cuff tears can be caused by:

Acute Injuries: Sudden injuries, such as falling on an outstretched arm.

Degenerative Changes: Wear and tear over time, often seen in people over 60 or those with jobs requiring repetitive overhead motions.

Risk factors include age, certain occupations (e.g., painters, carpenters, teachers, electricians), and sports that stress the shoulder (e.g. rugby, tennis).

How common is this injury and who gets it?

Rotator cuff tears are quite common, especially as people age. The likelihood of having a  Rotator cuff tear increases with age, affecting about 30% of people over 60 and more than 50% of those over 80. Interestingly, many rotator cuff tears are asymptomatic, meaning they don't cause noticeable symptoms.

What can be the consequences of a Rotor Cuff Tear

A rotator cuff tear can significantly impact your daily life and activities. Some of the consequences of a Rotator Cuff tear can be 

Difficulty with Overhead Activities: Tasks such as reaching for items on a high shelf or washing your hair can become challenging.

Reduced Strength: Weakness in the shoulder can make it difficult to carry shopping, lift objects, or perform other routine tasks.

Pain During Movement: Pain can limit your ability to perform activities that involve shoulder movement, such as getting dressed, driving, or playing sport.

Sleep Disturbances: Shoulder pain can make it difficult to find a comfortable sleeping position, leading to disrupted sleep.

Sports-Related Causes

Rotator cuff tears are common in athletes, especially those involved in sports that require repetitive shoulder movements. Some sports-related causes include:

Throwing Sports: Activities like cricket, dodgeball, and javelin throwing place significant stress on the rotator cuff due to repetitive overhead motions.

Swimming: The repetitive arm movements in swimming can lead to overuse injuries of the rotator cuff.

Tennis: Serving and overhead shots in tennis can strain the rotator cuff muscles and tendons.

Weightlifting: Lifting heavy weights, especially overhead, can cause acute injuries or contribute to degenerative changes in the rotator cuff.

Contact Sports: Sports like football, rugby, and hockey can result in traumatic injuries to the rotator cuff due to falls or collisions.

Treatment Options

There are a lot of options in terms of treatment, and your friendly Relive Physiotherapist will be able to talk you through the different options to find the best plan for you.

Manual Therapy: Hands-on techniques to reduce pain and improve shoulder function.  This is an important part of the treatment as it can help to loosen your shoulder and get you on the road to recovery quicker.

Corticosteroid Injections: These injections can help reduce inflammation and provide pain relief.  

Ultrasound-Guided Durolane Injections:  Our injecting Physiotherapist will be able to pinpoint the exact spot where this would be the most beneficial.  This involves injecting hyaluronic acid to lubricate the joint and improve function.

Acupuncture: A natural method to alleviate pain, reduce inflammation, and improve your range of motion.

Shockwave Therapy: Uses sound waves to stimulate healing and reduce pain.

Ultrasound Therapy: Non-invasive treatment that uses sound waves to promote tissue healing.

Exercise Therapy: Customised exercises to improve flexibility, strength, and range of motion.

 

Success Rates

The success rates for rotator cuff treatments vary depending on the severity of the tear and the treatment method:

Physiotherapy: Many patients experience significant improvement in pain and function with consistent physiotherapy.

Corticosteroid Injections: These can provide pain relief,  meaning your Physiotherapist can work on the injury using manual hands-on therapy and give you targeted exercises which will accelerate the healing process.  

Surgery: For small tears, surgery has a success rate of over 95%. For larger tears, the success rate is around 70%.  However, at Relive Physiotherapy, we aim to help you avoid surgery if we possibly can.

Prevention and Management

Preventing rotator cuff tears involves:

Strengthening Exercises: Regular exercises to strengthen the shoulder muscles.

Proper Technique: Using  the correct techniques in sports and daily activities to avoid strain.

Early Intervention: Seeking medical advice at the first sign of shoulder pain to prevent further damage.

If you have Shoulder Pain, then Chester’s best Sports Injury Clinic, Relive Physiotherapy is ready to help you.  We are here to help and support you with your Rotator Cuff Injury, and the sooner you consult, the better your chance of a quick recovery.  

You should always seek specialist advice before embarking on a course of treatment.  If you have misdiagnosed yourself, then any self-management of your condition will make the issue worse and harder to correct at a later date. 

 

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