Torn Rotator Cuff Treatment - Exercise Or Rest?

By: Nick Bryant Click author's name for more of his/her articles

Both of them is the answer but not in that order. A lot depends on how badly you have torn it. Most cuff tears will respond to rest and exercise but any serious partial tear or full thickness tear may need surgery before any therapy will help.

What is important with any torn rotator cuff treatment is to rest and let the injury start to repair itself. Carrying on through the pain of a rotator cuff is likely to leave you needing corrective surgery as you will do more damage to the tendons, so rest is the first order of the day.

Along with rest, you need to reduce the inflammation before you can think about starting any kind of exercise. The rotator cuff is a group of four muscles that help to stabilise the shoulder joint by pulling the head of the upper arm bone into the socket of the shoulder. They are small but important muscles that cover the shoulder joint forming a cuff of muscle that helps to support it, in doing so they run over and sometimes under the shoulder bones.

Any inflammation to these tendons causes pain as the inflamed tendon can impinge or catch on bone. A classic example of this is the supraspinatus muscle which runs under the collar bone and the acromion of the shoulder blade. When this muscle swells it can catch on the channel of bone and start to fray. Worst case scenario is that you could end up with a snapped tendon that would leave you needing corrective surgery.

So let the muscles rest. This means steering clear of any of the movements that are painful. If your job involves a lot of overhead movement you may need to modify the way in which you work. If you spend the day sitting at a desk, you might need to rearrange your desk to avoid stretching or reaching movements with the damaged arm. It might even be necessary to take a few days off to rest the arm properly.

At the same times start to reduce the inflammation. You could do this by using non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as Ibuprofen and by using ice packs on the damaged muscle to help to bring down the swelling. If symptoms persist it may be necessary to have a steroid injection into the muscle to reduce the inflammation. Your doctor should be able to do this for you.

Once the muscle has started to settle down you can begin simple exercises aimed at strengthening your rotator cuff muscles. Don't go rushing to the gym thinking that any kind of exercise will do the trick. It won't. Using weights before the muscle has healed properly is likely to cause more damage.

Rotator cuff exercises use little or no weight when recovering from an injury. They will begin with gentle exercises that do not cause any pain. If you feel pain or discomfort when exercising stop immediately as this is a sign of further damage being done. It may be that you started exercising too soon.

And don't forget, when your shoulder is better and back to its full pain free movement, don't stop the exercises. Rotator cuff injuries are common but a lot of them can be avoided by keeping the rotator cuff muscles healthy so just take five or ten minutes a day to keep them happy.

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About The Author: If you want to know how torn rotator cuff treatment stopped me needing surgery check out my story at my blog myrotatorcuffcure.blogspot.com