Watching For And Treating Torn Rotator Cuff Symptoms

By Tom Nicholson

Though they generally occur in the middle age group, it's not uncommon for torn rotator cuff symptoms to manifest themselves in the younger generation. Accidents, repeated strains in the muscles are some of the common causes of this problem. Though accidents are also responsible for injuring the rotator cuff, such injuries are normally quite apparent. However, problems like repeated stress syndrome where a person keeps doing tasks which put a strain on the ball and socket joint of the shoulders gradually damage the rotator cuff over time.

The initial sign that something is wrong in your shoulder is a light pain which throbs at intervals. Most people make the mistake of ignoring this pain and just take a pain killer. The pain killer does nothing except block the receptors that detect the sensation of pain or even prevent the signals of pain from travelling to the brain. As a result, the absence of pain makes people use their shoulder more and cause further trauma to the muscles. So, when the effect of the pain killer wears off, the pain returns with a vengeance and even the mobility of the shoulder joint is affected. Many times, other early symptoms of this problem include swelling in the shoulder which may or may not be accompanied by swelling, weakness and stiffness in the joint. These symptoms usually are experienced before the actual tearing of the joint. This is because slow and steady wear and tear are actually the cause of the problem.

Adhesive capsulitis (or "frozen shoulder") can develop when the initial set of torn rotator cuff symptoms are experienced. This is a reduction of mobility in the joint which can be severe enough that the sufferer has great difficulty performing even the most common of movements, such as those involved in getting dressed.

All too many patients don't begin to take notice of the problem until their torn rotator cuff symptoms have progressed to the point where they are unbearable. As the shoulder becomes more inflamed with continued stress, the symptoms gradually become more severe. Once the symptoms become very severe, the injury is often to the point where a full recovery could take years. Rather than allowing things to degenerate this far, it is better to listen to what your body is telling you and start treating the condition with a rotator cuff exercise program. Don't just use pain relievers to hide the pain - it will only return worse than ever as you keep causing more damage to your rotator cuff.

If you engage in sports or other athletic pursuits or have a career which involves a lot of physical strain, you need to be especially careful about watching for the onset of torn rotator cuff symptoms. As the injury becomes worse, so do the symptoms - and conditions like frozen shoulder can be truly debilitating.

It's important to diagnose these torn rotator cuff symptoms at the right time to ensure that the problem is completely healed. These days the diagnosis can be done in a variety of ways such as, ultrasound, X rays, arthrogram, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and a detailed physical examination. Depending on the severity of the torn rotator cuff symptoms, there are a number of ways to treat the problem including ice packs, heat, physical therapy, exercise and even steroids for acute cases. - 30453

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