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There is nothing fun about being injured. Not only do we have to endure pain,
but we’re often faced with the thought of staggering medical bills. Many
of us just pretend to ignore pain, hoping it will go away. If you climbed out
of bed and have been feeling constant shoulder pain, you may have sustained
a rotator cuff injury. The good news is that you don’t necessarily need
rotator cuff surgery. It just depends on the extent of your injuries.
If you’re experiencing a great deal of pain in your shoulder, it’s
likely that you’ve injured one of your four shoulder muscles. You may
know how this occurred. In the case of athletes who throw balls every day, this
could be a problem that occurred over time. These are called chronic injuries.
It may, however be a one time incident such as falling or landing on your arm.
These are called acute injuries. Whether chronic or acute, the treatment depends
on the seriousness of the injury. The severity of your injury will dictate whether
or not you need rotator cuff surgery.
Rotator
cuff surgery is not the answer to rotator cuffs that aren’t torn.
If you have sustained an injury but not a tear, it is probably that your rotator
cuff is inflamed. This is called “impingement”. The good news is
that impingement does not require rotator cuff surgery or really any sort of
treatment at all. It will basically get better on its own, although it may take
a while. Your doctor can prescribe anti-inflammatory medications or muscle relaxers
to help your journey to recovery be a smoother one.
Many torn rotator cuffs do require rotator cuff surgery. This is because, if
left untreated, the condition could worsen over time. Not only would you begin
to experience more and more pain and discomfort. You could also end up suffering
from arthritis.
It’s important to realize that you can’t diagnose yourself. A doctor
can’t even tell you if you’ll need rotator cuff surgery merely by
conducting a physical exam. If you sustain a rotator cuff injury, your doctor
will order an anthrogram. This is a process where radioactive dye is injected
through the veins and flows through to highlight the damaged areas of the shoulder,
appearing on the X-ray. The doctor will then be able to determine if you have
a true tear or not.
If you have sustained a serious tear, your doctor will probably advise rotator
cuff surgery. If the word surgery alone sends your mind whirling with panic,
don’t be alarmed. Rotator
cuff surgery is usually an outpatient surgery. You probably won’t
even have to spend the night in the hospital, and in many cases, this is performed
under local anesthetic. This means that you won’t feel anything, but you
won’t be put to sleep either.
The very next day, you will begin exercises, and within a few months you could
be back to normal. Nobody wants to have surgery, but rotator cuff surgery really
is a fairly straightforward procedure that can offer you mobility and pain
relief.
Written by Dr. Joseph J. Berke, M.D., Ph.D.
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