Can You Repair A Torn Rotator Cuff Without Surgery

Overview

What is the rotator cuff?

The rotator cuff is a grouping of muscles and tendons in your shoulder. They help yous elevator and move your arms abroad from your trunk. The rotator gage keeps the ball of the upper arm bone (humerus) in the shoulder blade socket.

What is a rotator cuff tear?

The shoulder is a ball-and-socket joint that's role of the skeletal arrangement. It's similar a golf ball sitting on a golf tee. Rotator cuff tears occur when tendons pull away from the arm os. A tear may effect from overuse or another injury.

What are the types of rotator cuff tears?

Types of torn rotator cuffs include:

Fractional: With an incomplete or partial tear, the tendon still somewhat attaches to the arm bone.
Complete: With a full-thickness or complete tear, the tendon separates completely from the bone. There'south a hole or rip in the tendon.

How common are rotator cuff tears?

More than 2 million Americans experience some type of rotator cuff problem every twelvemonth. Rotator cuff tears affect people of all ages and genders, just the problem is more common in adults.

Symptoms and Causes

What causes a rotator cuff tear?

An accident, such as a fall, can cause a cleaved collarbone or dislocated shoulder that tears the rotator gage.

More than ordinarily, rotator cuff tears occur over fourth dimension as the tendon wears down with age and employ (degenerative tear). People over 40 are nearly at gamble.

Causes of degenerative tears include:

Bone spurs: Bony growths can grade on the top of the shoulder bone. These os spurs rub against the tendon when you elevator your arm. This shoulder impingement creates friction betwixt the bone and tendon. Eventually, a fractional or complete tear may occur.
Decreased blood catamenia: Claret flow to the rotator gage decreases as you go older. Your muscles and tendons demand a healthy claret supply to repair themselves. If blood doesn't nourish the tendons, they can tear.
Overuse : Repetitive shoulder movements during sports or on the job can stress muscles and tendons, causing a tear.

What are risk factors for rotator cuff tears?

Anyone can feel a rotator cuff tear. These factors may increase your risk:

Family history of shoulder problems or rotator cuff injuries.
Poor posture.
Smoking.
Being age xl or older.

Degenerative tears are more mutual amongst people who practice the aforementioned repetitive shoulder movements, such as:

Carpenters.
Mechanics.
Painters.
Recreational and professional person athletes who play baseball game, softball and tennis or are office of a rowing coiffure.

Exercise rotator cuff tears affect both shoulders?

Tears tend to occur on your dominant side, but can be on either side. Having a tear in one shoulder increases the likelihood of a tear in the opposite shoulder. You might not have shoulder pain on the opposite side, just tests may indicate a tear. The reverse may as well be true: you may have a tear just have no pain or symptoms.

What are the symptoms of a rotator cuff tear?

Sudden tears from accidents cause immediate, intense shoulder pain and arm weakness. With degenerative tears, you lot may have mild pain that improves with over-the-counter pain relievers. Over time, the pain gets worse, and hurting relievers don't help. Not everyone has pain, but well-nigh people take some caste of arm and shoulder weakness.

Signs of a rotator gage tear include:

Difficulty and pain caused past raising your arm.
Popping or clicking sounds or sensations when moving your arm.
Shoulder pain that worsens at night or when resting your arm.
Shoulder weakness and struggling to lift items.

Diagnosis and Tests

How is a rotator gage tear diagnosed?

Your healthcare provider will perform a physical test to cheque for shoulder tenderness, range of move and arm strength.

To confirm a diagnosis, y'all may get:

An X-ray to check for arthritis or bone spurs.
An MRI or ultrasound to look for tendon tears.

Direction and Treatment

What are the complications of a rotator cuff tear?

A rotator cuff tear can become worse without treatment. A complete tear can make information technology near impossible to motility your arm. Without treatment, yous may take chronic shoulder hurting and find information technology very difficult to use the injured arm.

What are nonsurgical treatments for rotator cuff tears?

Rotator cuff tears do not heal on their own without surgery, but many patients tin can improve functionally and decrease pain with nonsurgical handling by strengthening their shoulder muscles. Just because there is a tear, does not necessarily mean a surgery is needed. About 8 out of ten people with partial tears get better with nonsurgical treatments. Information technology can take upwards to a year for the status to ameliorate.

Nonsurgical treatments include:

An arm sling and residue to requite your shoulder fourth dimension to heal. Yous may demand to modify activities and stop certain work or sports for a period of time.
Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) to minimize pain and swelling.
Physical therapy to acquire strengthening and stretching exercises.
Steroid injections to ease pain and swelling.

What are the surgical treatments for rotator cuff tears?

Your healthcare provider may recommend surgery if you lot have a complete tear or nonsurgical treatments don't help a partial tear. You lot may also have surgery if your job or athletic interests affect the shoulder.

Most rotator gage surgeries take place arthroscopically through small incisions. The surgery is an outpatient process. You get dwelling the same mean solar day, but the overall recovery after this surgery is very substantial and tin take up to a twelvemonth or more.

Some tears are non repairable due to the size and/or age of the tear, and may necessitate reverse shoulder replacement, tendon transfer, or a debridement of scar tissue without repair.

During surgery, your healthcare provider:

Inserts an arthroscope (small photographic camera) through a minor incision in your shoulder.
Refers to images from the arthroscope to perform the procedure.
Inserts tiny instruments into modest incisions in your shoulder to remove bone spurs and reattach the tendon to the upper arm bone.

For a partial tear, your healthcare provider may only demand to trim fraying pieces of a partially torn tendon. This debridement procedure keeps the shoulder ball and socket from catching on the tendon and trigger-happy it more.

After surgery, you need to wear a sling to immobilize your arm for 4 to half dozen weeks. You can then showtime physical therapy. About people regain shoulder function and strength within four to six months subsequently surgery, but total recovery may take upward to 12-18 months.

Prevention

How can I prevent a rotator gage tear?

To prevent a rotator cuff tear, it's of import to keep your muscles and tendons flexible. Your healthcare provider can teach you stretching and strengthening exercises to do at home.

Outlook / Prognosis

What is the prognosis (outlook) for people who have a rotator gage tear?

Most people see improvements with nonsurgical treatments. Recovery takes time because your body needs time to heal. Near people who have surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff regain function.

It's possible to tear the same tendon again, peculiarly if the kickoff tear was bigger than ane inch. A re-tear that causes severe pain or loss of move may require surgery.

Living With

When should I telephone call my healthcare provider?

You should call your healthcare provider if you experience:

Chronic shoulder and arm hurting.
Pain that worsens at night or interferes with sleep.
Redness, swelling, or tenderness in the shoulder joint area.
Shoulder or arm weakness.

What questions should I ask my healthcare provider?

You may desire to inquire your healthcare provider:

What caused the rotator cuff tear?
What is the all-time treatment for me?
What can I do to lower the risk of getting another rotator cuff tear?
Should I wait out for signs of complications?
Which signs of complications?

A note from Cleveland Clinic

If y'all piece of work a very physical job or yous're an athlete, a rotator gage injury will likely bench yous, but it doesn't have to be the end of your career. Talk to your healthcare provider about the best treatment options, whether nonsurgical or surgical. Your shoulder may be weak and painful for a while, only it will eventually heal.