Health & Fitness Blog

Even though they are much more common in middle-aged people, torn rotator cuff symptoms can affect people of any age. Whether through repetitive strain injuries, accidents or other causes, this is a serious problem. When caused by an accident, the nature of the injury is generally immediately obvious; but when due to repetitive stress, the damage to the rotator cuff happens gradually and may not be noticed for some time.

Typically, the first sign of these injuries are minor throbbing pains which recur periodically. In general, people shrug this pain off, often taking an over the counter pain reliever and ignoring the problem. This is a big mistake, since these people tend to continue working their shoulders, causing further damage. When the pain reliever wears off, the pain returns worse than ever, often along with restricted mobility of the affected shoulder. Other signs of a rotator cuff injury include weakness, stiffness and swelling in the injured shoulder joint. However, since gradual strain is the most common cause of this type of injury, these symptoms will show up before there is actual tearing of muscles or tendons, meaning that the worst can be averted if action is taken.

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.

Most people start taking heed of the torn rotator cuff symptoms when they start becoming unbearable. These symptoms build up over time and are a result of the inflammation of the rotator cuff. Once these symptoms manifest themselves completely, then it can take years to heal the problem. Therefore, it’s better to nip this problem in the bud by paying attention to the early symptoms and then enrolling yourself in a rotator cuff exercise program. The pain killers do not heal the cause of the problem; they just take care of the symptoms which worsen when the effects wear off.

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.

You’ll be able to prevent serious injury and keep torn rotator cuff symptoms from impairing your ability to live your life normally by having the problem diagnosed and treated as early as possible. A torn rotator cuff can be diagnosed using ultrasound, MRI, x-rays, physical examination and arthograms. The treatment may be as simple as ice packs or heat therapy with stretching and other exercises; or in more advanced injuries, physical therapy or even steroids may be indicated.

Tom Nicholson has spent years caring for sufferers of carpal tunnel syndrome. You can click here to learn more about having asore wrist.

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