Treatment for Torn Rotator Cuff

The rotator cuff is composed of tendons and muscles that connect your shoulder blade to your upper arm. It works to provide a range of motion in your shoulder joint. The rotator cuff can be injured because of a traumatic accident or repetitive motion. A torn rotator cuff happens when a tiny tear or large rupture occurs in one or more of the tendons in your shoulder.

Home Treatment

• If the tear in your rotator cuff is minor, you may be able to treat your shoulder at home. Avoid using your arm in an overheard motion until your shoulder has healed. Avoid heavy lifting. If your rotator cuff tear was caused by repetitive motion such as playing tennis, avoid that activity until your tendon has recovered.

  Apply ice packs to your shoulder for 20-minute intervals every two hours for the first three days after your injury. This will help relieve pain and swelling. After three days, switch to hot packs to help relax the muscles in your rotator cuff. Do not use hot packs if you still have swelling. Take a pain reliever that reduces inflammation. As soon as pain subsides, begin gentle shoulder stretches and strengthening exercises to prevent your shoulder from becoming stiff.

Steroid Injections and Physical Therapy

• Severe pain from a torn rotator cuff may be treated by injecting corticosteroids directly into your shoulder joint. Steroids help relieve pain and reduce swelling. This allows you to partake in physical therapy strengthening and stretching exercises to help your shoulder heal.

Surgery

• Severe rotator cuff tears require surgical repair. This involves attaching the tendons back onto the bone of your upper arm. This may require open surgery if the repair needed is extensive. For example, the surgeon may also shave part of the shoulder bone away or remove bone spurs. Simple repairs can be performed with arthroscopic surgery. With this type of procedure, the physician makes a small incision and inserts a tube into your shoulder that has a camera on the end. He is able to look at your shoulder joint on a video screen. Operating instruments are inserted through other skin punctures and your doctor performs the operation while viewing the screen. The advantages to arthroscopic surgery are that it can be done with a local rather than general anesthesia and there are less complications since the incisions are smaller.