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Monday, July 30, 2012

Rotator Cuff Tears: The Impact of Early Detection and Therapy

By Ellie Lois

Rotator cuff injuries can be annoying at times and can be severely painful. Most often, rotator cuff tears are not easily detected. It has been found out, during autopsies that seventy percent of 80 year olds have the tear. About thirty percent of those under 70 years of age also have the same rotator cuff injuries. As the age becomes older, the body becomes weaker and susceptible to injuries. One can do many abrupt movements. In the process of a great deal of movement, harm can be incurred.

But rotator tears are not just from old age! You can get them at any age.

Rotator cuff injuries may be caused by having a fall or perhaps a vehicular accident. Football players engage in an accident-prone game, thus, ending up, injuring their rotator cuffs. Playing golf, as cool as it seems to be can also cause such tear. Having a rotator cuff teat does not just happen when you have these accidents. In fact, I had a rotator cuff injury when a friend of mine just pulled me abruptly.

There are common symptoms to point to a rotator cuff tear. One basic sign is when you can't stretch your arm over your head or when you can't even pull your arm to your shirt sleeve. When it gets excruciatingly painful while sleeping, pay attention to these signs. When that part of the shoulder seems to cause throbbing pain that stretches down to the elbow and it constantly affects you, no doubt, you have a rotator cuff tear. Correct the problem before it is too late because believe me, I was lucky, I got it attended to right away.

The only way to treat a rotator cuff tear is through physical therapy. After meeting up with the therapist, I have learned "do-it-yourself" exercises that prove helpful. However, you can have lots of information and techniques available, whichever you opt to have.

Before anything else, it is best to seek professional help. Tests like Arthrogram, ultrasound, MRI and a diagnostic arthroscopy can identify prognosis on rotator cuff injuries. Aside from the tests, the doctor also checks on the shoulder itself, testing its movement as to how much pain you feel while doing the range of motion. This can help the doctor decipher as to what extent your injury has become from just a slight tear to a full tear.

The sooner a person has the rotator cuff tear checked out, the sooner there is help to heal as it will take months depending if there has to be surgery. Surgery is for full tears mostly and is rare. A person usually will undergo physical therapy for a while to do exercises and take anti-inflammatory medicines to help with the swelling.

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For more info on Rotator Cuff Tears, visit Fix Rotator Cuff Injury.

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