The Rotator Cuff is a common name for the group of 4 distinct muscles and their tendons, which provide strength and stability during motion to the shoulder complex.
The 4 rotator cuff muscles include the following:
- Supraspinatus
- Subscapularis
- Teres minor
- Infraspinatus
Rotator cuff tears are the most common cause of shoulder pain. Tears can be acute (sudden onset) or chronic (long-term fraying). The outcome of your injury can be influenced by the size, location of the tear and early intervention.
The supraspinatus muscle is the most frequently torn tendon. When the tear involves a second or third tendon in the rotator cuff, the effect on the shoulder dynamics, pain and recovery are much worse. In these cases, extensive physiotherapy rehabilitation is required to regain strength, movement, and confidence.
What causes rotator cuff tears?
Chronic rotator cuff tears occur gradually and are common as people age. This is because the tendons, which attach the muscles to the upper arm bone, degenerate, and fray. Up to 40 per cent of people over 65 will have degenerative tears of their rotator cuff and most do not have pain. Instead, they will notice their arm is weaker with overhead activities.
Acute tears involve an injury or trauma, usually in people who have had no shoulder pain before (for example, a fall on the arm while skiing). Younger individuals participating in repetitive overhead activities for their job or sport (such as carpenters, painters, swimmers, or throwers) are also more at risk of injuring their rotator cuff acutely.
Symptoms of rotator cuff tears
Individuals with a rotator cuff tear may suffer from:
- severe pain at time of injury
- pain at night
- pain with overhead activities
- weakness of involved muscle
- shoulder stiffness
How can Physio Ready help?
At Physio Ready our physiotherapists will firstly run through an assessment to work out the level of your function, pain, and strength of your shoulder. Depending on the extent of pain, function, and strength our physiotherapists will provide immediate relief and support for your shoulder by taping.
Taping is crucial to stabilise the shoulder. When the rotator cuff is torn, this can lead to a lot of stability issues in the shoulder leading to pain and limitation in movement. Taping will constantly be used for the acute phase of the injury to reduce pain and improve function throughout the acute recovery phase. Along with taping soft tissue massage and shock wave therapy will be used in conjunction to promote relaxation of the muscles such as the trapezius and biceps to reduced stiffness and rigidity in movement.
Once the acute phase of the injury is well managed regarding pain and function our physiotherapists will start to provide simple home exercises that you can do. None of the exercises will provoke pain and in fact it will help reduce the pain and improve your strength of the rotator cuffs and shoulder. A gradual progression of exercises will be provided as you regain more function and strength. While exercises have commenced ongoing soft tissue release and shock wave therapy will be provided to maintain relaxation of the muscles surrounding the rotator cuff to decrease any stiffness and rigidity from the over activation while the rotator cuff muscles are healing.
How effective is physiotherapy for rotator cuff tear?
Physiotherapy is very effective in decreasing symptoms of rotator cuff tears. In fact, the outcomes of surgery for rotator cuff tears are no different to the outcomes of physiotherapy. If a patient does not choose to have surgery in the first 12 weeks of physiotherapy, they are unlikely to require surgery.
It is highly advised that physiotherapy is trialled before rushing into surgery as the chances are that you will likely improve significantly with physiotherapy if the appropriate assessment and treatment plan is laid out.
If you need help for your shoulder pain or rotator cuff tear contact Physio Ready today on (02) 9249 9122 or (02) 8622 1681.