What is a Rotator Cuff Injury?
The rotator cuff made up of four muscles namely the supraspinatus, infraspinatus, teres minor, and subscapularis. These muscles function is to stabilize and move the shoulder joint. Due to these functions, sports involving a bigger shoulder rotation such as serving in tennis, pitching in baseball, swimming, kayaking creates a higher risk for rotator cuff muscles and puts them under stress.
A rotator cuff injury is the most painful injury that one can ever suffer. The rotator cuff injury occurs when one or more of these tendons become overstrained or overworked. It causes severe pain in the shoulder region. It creates an inability to perform everyday movements such as lifting your arm, rotating your shoulder.
Rotator Cuff Tear Symptoms:
The following are the common symptoms that most patients report. However, the symptoms you may experience may vary from person to person.
- Pain – this can vary enormously
- Muscle weakness
- Grating, cracking or catching noises/sensations
- Limited range of arm movement
- Night pain affecting sleep patterns
What causes a rotator cuff tear?
Rotator cuff tear is of two distinct types.
- Chronic Tear – A tear with a gradual onset over time.
- Acute tear – An identifiable trauma or accident cause acute tears
Acute tears
Acute tears are the most commonly found tears and occurs due to accidents such as car crashes, slips, trips or falls. It often results from lifting heavy objects and sudden fall of an object on the shoulder that cause broken bones in the shoulder.
Chronic tears
Chronic tears are associated with several factors including:
- A gradual weakening of the tendons
- Overuse
- Impingement
- Poor blood supply
- Advancing age
The common sequences of events for the occurrence of chronic tears, as follows:
- The older you are, the less you use your shoulders
- The cuff muscles and tendons may become weaker
- Shoulder becomes unstable
- The humeral head is allowed to ride up
- The cuff becomes squashed (impinged)
- Tendons become gradually weaker
- A tear occurs
Rotator Cuff Treatment
The three commonly used surgical techniques for rotator cuff repair include:
- Open repair
- Mini-open repair
- All-arthroscopic repair
Mini-Open Repair
Mini-open repair in torn rotator cuff surgery is a minor version of the open surgery technique in which your surgeon makes an incision that is typically 3 cm to 5 cm in length and then induces arthroscopy to visualize the tear, assess and treat damage within the joint. Mini-open repair eliminates the need for detaching the deltoid muscle.
Arthroscopic Rotator Cuff Repair
An arthroscopic rotator cuff repair is an outpatient procedure in which your surgeon makes multiple small incisions (portals) and uses arthroscopic technology to visualize and repair the rotator cuff. It can be most challenging for your surgeon, but the outcomes are much effective compared with results of mini-open repair and open repair.
Have you diagnosed with rotator cuff and struggling with shoulder pain, Consult the Best Shoulder Surgeon in Hyderabad who can help you get rid of shoulder pain.
