Rotator Cuff Pain Needs
Immediate Attention…

› › [Rotator Cuff Pain]
A dull and painful ache deep in the shoulder tissues...

If you have rotator cuff pain you will notice a dull painful ache deep inside the shoulder joint…

You may experience difficulty in:

  • Combing your hair…
  • Putting your hand behind your head…
  • Sleeping…
  • Certain ranges of motion such as reaching to the side and reaching overhead…

These are common symptoms with regard to rotator cuff injury…

The rotator cuff consists of four muscles that surround the humeral head (ball of the shoulder) joined by tendons…

These muscles originate from the scapula (shoulder blade) …

This group of muscles holds the head of the humerus down in the glenoid cavity (bony cup) and lends stability to the joint …

A tear along any of these muscles and or tendons is going to interfere with strength and movement of the arm…

And it can eventually lead to chronic neck pain; as the shoulder weakens, so will other surrounding muscle groups. If this has already happened, you can go to the neck pain relief page for more information...

If this sounds like you, getting diagnosed by a professional is a good idea because depending on the seriousness of your injury, you and your shoulder may require surgery for this type of joint pain…

Making this a time sensitive issue…

The four muscles that make up the rotator cuff.

If too much time passes without the appropriate treatment and re-habilitation, muscles and tendons within the rotator cuff may become permanently damaged and frozen shoulder will set in…

This is because if the rotator cuff is damaged, there is not only pain, but strength and movement are impaired…

If a shoulder is rested for too long, the muscles and tendons begin to freeze…

Waking up a frozen shoulder is a particularly painful process, so addressing a shoulder problem through correct diagnosis and imaging as early as possible is of prime importance…

How Chiropractic Can Help
You With Rotator Cuff Pain…

Activator Methods Adjusting post rotator cuff injury will help to rebalance your shoulder joint.

If someone came to me with a suspected rotator cuff tear, the first thing I would do after range of motion tests would be to request diagnostic imaging…

I would want to see if it was a muscle tear, tendon tear, or calcific tendonitis- where small bony fragments (like little hard crumbs) are lodged in the tendon…

I would also want to be able to rule out infection; there are several types of infection that can set themselves into a shoulder joint, especially after it has been injured…

Imaging also reveals how advanced the injury is; and this can make big differences in how it is treated…

Sometimes a rotator cuff can be damaged so badly that the arm has become destabilized, and that means surgery, and slow rehabilitation of several months…

If there is a tear that is more minor, a chiropractor can take care of you over a six to eight-week time period…

  • Yes, six to eight weeks, even for a minor tear…

A chiropractor treating your rotator cuff pain should:

  • Offer or refer you for diagnostic imaging…
  • Use electrical stimulation and ultrasound with heat and ice rubs to control pain and inflammation…
  • Introduce and take you through various exercises to increase range of motion in your shoulder and neighbouring joints and muscles…
  • Full spine and shoulder adjustments to restore normal bio-mechanics to the shoulder joint and release any fixations that may have set in due to altered movement …
  • Offer therapeutic massage to restore the length of the muscles and release soft tissue adhesions…

Shoulders, especially when it is rotator cuff pain, do not heal quickly because there is a low blood supply to the area…

Places on the body where there is a high blood supply tend to heal markedly faster – in the tissue healing game, high blood supply is the winner every time because blood passing through allows for debris to be cleaned away, nutrition gets delivered, and much more oxygen visits the area…

Better blood supply – faster healing rate…

If your shoulder is sore, and you are not sure what to do, you can visit the shoulder pain page for some solutions and more recommendations…

Natural Pain
Relief...

Over the counter as well as prescribed pain relief medications are fast acting and potent, but what happens if you need to take them to manage your pain over a period of years, or for the rest of your life...?

You may wish to do some research and look into some natural pain relief remedies that will not have the toxic effects on your internal organs that most pain medications do after a lengthy period of time...

I have provided some basic information regarding supplementation that provides natural pain relief to help get you started - just click on the link below...

Natural Pain Relief

New Methods Of
Repair Put Into Practice …

Stem Cell Injection: The cutting edge of rotator cuff repair.

Some of the latest science and technology in shoulder joint repair involve injections of

  • Growth Factors…
  • Stem Cells…

These injections allow for the tendons to repair themselves and are rapidly replacing cortisone injections in standard practice …

They also help with the inflammatory process and allow the tissues to strengthen naturally which is great news in the area of rotator cuff pain...

Cortisone might relieve pain but it does not promote healing and eventually weakens the tissue…

I do not know a great deal about these new procedures other than they now exist and that I will be looking further into them with great interest…

  • The future is definitely here…!  And it is good…

› › [Rotator Cuff Pain]

Disclaimer – This is information on joint pain. I teach, but I do not diagnose, prescibe or treat people who contact me. You are responsible for your condition using your own best judgement combined with what you have learned. Just a heads up - bodies carry unusual differences from time to time, in saying that, you could be one of those rare and unusual beings; if you are in doubt, please contact a physician in your area, so you can rule it out.

Move Freely and Knowledgeably and Be Well!

Dr. Jo

P.S...    “Greater certainty of your condition alone can be a powerful form of pain relief.”