How to treat a rotator cuff

Definition

Group of muscles and tendons in the shoulder are called rotator cuff. Rotator cuff injuries happen in cases of damage or irritation of tissues in the shoulder. The most common symptom of rotation cuff injury is pain in the shoulder when you try to raise you arms which tends to be worse at night.

There are several possible causes of rotator cuff injuries and inflammations, one of them can be soreness of tendons, (witch is cord that attaches muscles with bones). Main joint in shoulder is connected between arm bone and shoulder blade allowing for wide range of movements and motions. The rotator cuff is surrounded by muscles and keeping shoulder joint in place and steady.

Therapy

When checking with your doctor, who will examine you, and, if needed, order some additional tests like MRI or ultrasound, and prescribe you anti-inflammatory or pain killer medicaments, there are other thing that you can do in your home, in order to relieve the pain and help yourself with your rotator cuff injury. Some of those things may be special kind of exercises which you usually do at the end of the therapy. After you recovery period is over, you should continue with these exercises (ask your doctor how)to prevent this injury to happen again.

In some occasions, surgery is needed. One case is if the long lasting injury or inflammation wears the shoulder tendon; other is, when rotation cuff is teared. If this is the case you should feel a weakness in certain movements of arm even after injury is healed and the pain is gone.

Physical therapy Exercises

There are three main types of interventions for rotator cuff problems;

First is modalities, and this intervention consist of medical machines that your therapist apply to your injured shoulder, in order to manage the pain and improve healing process of your painful shoulder, together with some other types of interventions.

Second type of intervention is therapeutic exercises. Those exercises consist of range of conditioning, motion and strengthening exercises. The aim of those exercises is to improve the range of motion of your affected shoulder and to improve and strengthen overall endurance of the shoulder, and the tendons and muscles in it.

Third type of physical therapy exercises is manual therapy. This may include soft tissue massage or immobilization of the joint, in order to improve connecting tissue flexibility and joint motions and relieve the pain.