What Is the Best Way to Treat a Rotator Cuff Tear?

Many times our bodies do a great job of healing problems all on their own. Rotator cuff tears do not appear to be one of these times. Often, only using time as a healing technique for Rotator Cuff tears will lead to more problems, rather then fewer. The tear will tend to increase without proper care and at best will remain the same.

The first objective in proper treatment of a rotator cuff tear is to isolate the cause of the tear, if possible. If repetitive activity is at the cause of your injury, it will be necessary to avoid that activity for several weeks or months to allow for healing to occur. Often times a shoulder joint misalignment, or subluxation, will occur as a result of or in conjunction with a rotator cuff tear. Correcting the misalignment and maintaining proper alignment will improve the effectiveness of your healing process.

In addition to obtaining proper shoulder alignment and limiting your exposure to aggravating activities, physical therapy can help to strengthen the shoulder muscles and improve the function of your shoulder joint. Learning how to properly exercise and use your shoulder joint can also help to prevent future repeat episodes. Use of medicine may help to reduce the symptoms associated with a rotator cuff tear, but it is important to carefully weigh out the risks versus benefits when looking to only alleviate symptoms.

Rotator cuff surgery may be necessary if the injury is either involving a younger individual experiencing significant loss of function or when more conservative methods do not achieve the results you are looking for. Rotator cuff tears can be repaired either through arthroscopic surgery or through more traditional open repair or mini-open repair, where a larger incision is made to access the tendons in the shoulder. Through any of these methods, the surgery is usually relatively short, lasting about two hours but requiring four to six months for complete recovery.

Determining which methods of treatment are going to be best for you will require some discernment and discussion between you, your chiropractor and/or medical doctor. No two rotator cuff tears are exactly alike, nor will two tears respond the same to the same treatment.

With the exception of a traumatic rotator cuff tear in a younger person, which will typically involve surgery earlier, you will do best to choose conservative methods of treatment first while working towards more invasive treatments, such as medicine and surgery, as last resorts.

How Do I Best Help My Rotator Cuff Tear?

Many times our bodies do a great job of healing problems all on their own. Rotator cuff tears do not appear to be one of these times. Often, only using time as a healing technique for Rotator Cuff tears will lead to more problems, rather then fewer. The tear will tend to increase without proper care and at best will remain the same.

The first objective in proper treatment of a rotator cuff tear is to isolate the cause of the tear, if possible. If repetitive activity is at the cause of your injury, it will be necessary to avoid that activity for several weeks or months to allow for healing to occur. Often times a shoulder joint misalignment, or subluxation, will occur as a result of or in conjunction with a rotator cuff tear. Correcting the misalignment and maintaining proper alignment will improve the effectiveness of your healing process.

In addition to obtaining proper shoulder alignment and limiting your exposure to aggravating activities, physical therapy can help to strengthen the shoulder muscles and improve the function of your shoulder joint. Learning how to properly exercise and use your shoulder joint can also help to prevent future repeat episodes. Use of medicine may help to reduce the symptoms associated with a rotator cuff tear, but it is important to carefully weigh out the risks versus benefits when looking to only alleviate symptoms.

Rotator cuff surgery may be necessary if the injury is either involving a younger individual experiencing significant loss of function or when more conservative methods do not achieve the results you are looking for. Rotator cuff tears can be repaired either through arthroscopic surgery or through more traditional open repair or mini-open repair, where a larger incision is made to access the tendons in the shoulder. Through any of these methods, the surgery is usually relatively short, lasting about two hours but requiring four to six months for complete recovery.