Have you been experiencing shoulder pain and ignoring it for a long time? Do you know rotator cuff tear is a common cause of pain and disability among adults? More than three million people experience rotator cuff problems every year. Maybe it is a good time to reconsider visiting your physician to consult them regarding your pain!
Define Rotator Cuff Tear
The rotator cuff is a group of four muscles and their tendons responsible for keeping the shoulder joint stable. A rotator cuff tear is an injury where one or more of the tendons or muscles of the shoulder's rotator cuff get torn. It can be either in the form of full thickness or partial thickness, depending on the severity. In full-thickness, the tear extends from top to bottom of a rotator cuff muscle/tendon, whereas partial-thickness means only some portion of a rotator cuff muscle/tendon.
What Causes Rotator Cuff Tear of the Shoulder?
- Any sudden force or injury.
- History of trauma
- Dominant arm
- Age
What Causes Rotator Cuff Tear of the Shoulder?
- Pain
- Unable to lift the hand in full motion or restricted hand movements.
- Difficulty sleeping on the affected shoulder.
- Difficulty reaching your overhead.
Diagnosis
The shoulder pain is evaluated thoroughly to identify the source of pain, such as the shoulder, cervical spine, and chest wall. Primary care or orthopedist perform imaging and MRI depending on the resources available in the primary care office. It is important to identify full thickness to medium and partial-sized rotator cuff tears early. Many aspects of patient care overlap between primary care and orthopedics, such as evaluation and nonoperative management of rotator cuff tear - physical examination, imaging modalities, medication management, injections, and physical therapy (Mathiasen & Hogrefe, 2018); both conservative and surgical treatments are then assessed depending on the patient’s condition.
Advanced Joint Pain Relief Program
Research suggests that if rotator cuff tear patients during conservative treatments fail to show any improvement in the symptoms after one month, or even if they show some initial improvements but stop after it, then PRP injections turned out to be effective in such cases (Prodromos, C. C., Finkle, S., Prodromos, Chen, J. L. et al., 2021).
If you’re suffering from the condition and feel you’ve not found a treatment that provided pain relief, look no further as we can help in your healing journey! Our doctors may help improve rotator cuff tear of the shoulder with our Advanced Joint Pain Relief Program.
Our Advanced Joint Pain Relief Program is nonoperative, and doesn't utilize any form of anti-inflammatories or narcotics, rather an approach using various therapies to encourage your body to heal itself. For example, an advanced therapy we incorporate in our program is Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP) Therapy. In Platelet-rich plasma (PRP), our health professional draws the blood, and with the help of centrifugate, separates the platelet-rich plasma from the rest of the blood. We use ultrasound imaging to guide the injections, and then the doctor directly injects the platelet into the injured or diseased body tissue. PRP enhances tissue recovery by catalyzing the body’s natural healing response and tissue repair process. PRP injections may appear safe for decreasing pain and improving function in rotator cuff tears of the shoulder.
Vitality Integrative Wellness in Temecula has been serving patients for years now. You may consult our doctors and learn more about the Advanced Joint Pain Relief Program by booking an appointment at (951) 386-3399.
Disclaimer: The results may vary from patient to patient.
Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5825352/
Source: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12891-021-04288-4
Source: https://orthoinfo.aaos.org/en/diseases--conditions/rotator-cuff-tears/