Has anyone had a rotator cuff injury? How did you treat it? How long did it take to go away? Is it recurring?

Diagnosed last week and a course of Anti inflams for a couple of weeks. If no improvement will be an MRI to see what's going on.
Options then are apparently cortisone shots or surgery

Yah, frayed ligaments and bone oedema. Exercises with a bungy cord.

Do yourself a favour and go see a physio. Anti-inflamms, and steroids can help, but don't address what the cause may have been,and as such its not uncommon for the condition to return. Surgery should only be considered if and when a decent course of physio including home exercise program has not helped. Don't self diagnose, the shoulder is very complex and there are a number of causes of pain that may or may not be the rotator cuff. FYI -I am a physio, so my opinion is biased, but then again, I treat about 300+ shoulders a year, and get to work with some really good shoulder surgeons.

On a sobering note, by the time you are 60 or so, your rotator cuff tendons will most likely be on the way out. I reckon in the next 10 yrs we will see this type of condition being recognised as a natural part of getting older. Not unlike knee arthritis and replacements.

Ditto on physio, I had 8 weeks of weekly visits and given exercises that made a difference straight away, bungy cord exercises as well, no issues since from 4years ago

Be very careful with shoulders. I would immediately recommend the thing you certainly don't want to hear (rest - ie, no windsurfing until it settles down). Careful with the anti-inflams, always have them on a full stomach. Don't rely on them, they mask the cause and don't really treat it. Anti-inflams and rest is much better than the drugs alone.

Shoulder injuries have a habit of hanging around, take them seriously.

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Sputnik11 said..

Shoulder injuries have a habit of hanging around, take them seriously.

I have Calcific tendinitis, which is basically calcium deposits forming on the tendons around the rotor cuff area. My shoulder can be good one day and extremely painful the next. I'm on strong anti-inflammatory tablets for the pain. I can barley even hold the boom up some days, so end up calling it a day and packing up early. Rest and stretching is the best thing to build up strength again. If you dont have any pain dont take the tablets as your body can become immune to them.

Thanks for all the advice, mine came from repetitive use swimming, currently treated with anti inflammatories but will be looking into some physio also.

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deejay8204 said..

Sputnik11 said..

Shoulder injuries have a habit of hanging around, take them seriously.

I have Calcific tendinitis, which is basically calcium deposits forming on the tendons around the rotor cuff area. My shoulder can be good one day and extremely painful the next. I'm on strong anti-inflammatory tablets for the pain. I can barley even hold the boom up some days, so end up calling it a day and packing up early. Rest and stretching is the best thing to build up strength again. If you dont have any pain dont take the tablets as your body can become immune to them.

Deejay, The calcium that is readily seen in the tendons, may not necessarily be the source of your pain. It is a really common finding, even in non-painful shoulders. It's not that you become tolerant to anti-inflammatories, it is actually the process of inflammation stopping, but leaving you with painful, poor quality tendons and muscle dysfunction that leads to the ongoing condition. That's when things really get prickly from a treatment / rehab point of view.

If you are in brissy, PM me, and let me know your suburb and I might be able to point you in the right direction of who to see.

i had my rotator cuff done at the same time as having and AC joint resection, bursa removed and bicep re-attached. Im 7 weeks post operation and sailed for the first time on Sunday. Felt good.

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boardboy said...
i had my rotator cuff done at the same time as having and AC joint resection, bursa removed and bicep re-attached. Im 7 weeks post operation and sailed for the first time on Sunday. Felt good.

Mate that's great progress. I hope you didn't have a cuff repair ( I wouldn't tell the surgeon you were sailing at 7 weeks). Make sure you work on you strength and control.

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DAM71 said..

boardboy said...
i had my rotator cuff done at the same time as having and AC joint resection, bursa removed and bicep re-attached. Im 7 weeks post operation and sailed for the first time on Sunday. Felt good.

Mate that's great progress. I hope you didn't have a cuff repair ( I wouldn't tell the surgeon you were sailing at 7 weeks). Make sure you work on you strength and control.

yeah the physic and surgeon were very happy with progress. Had full range of motion at about 5 weeks and was cleared for light gym work. Has gone from strength to strength.

Dan71- can u pm ur clinic details. I am melb based physio and need contact for referring traveling clients etc good to find confident shoulder physio we get heaps thru our clinic

Twinman- i can pm good perth physio if interested. Dan has given good advice the rehab program to.do post surgery is always worth trying prior as it can sort out most issues or least give u good strength/stability base if end up getting op.

Boardboy- that sounds like awesome recovery. Still go easy for couple of weeks healing process can take around usually 10-12 weeks even though range and pain are good. And if strength is still building want to.wait till full before going 25knots

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Chilla said..

Has anyone had a rotator cuff <span class="spnSearchHighlight" id="hilite">injury</span>? How did you treat it? How long did it take to go away? Is it recurring?

Use cold compression to get and keep inflammation down. Rest it as much as possible and use a blood flow stimulator to increase the amount of oxygen and nutrients to the RC. I've torn both, luckily not at the same time, terrible injury though. Got the stimulator from here: www.kingbrand.com/Torn_Rotator_Cuff.php?REF=52PV94

Chilla - look up Greg Kerr at Horizon Physiotherapy and Sports Medicine and give him a buzz (08) 9245 7007.

Get well mate

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LittleOnion said..

Boardboy- that sounds like awesome recovery. Still go easy for couple of weeks healing process can take around usually 10-12 weeks even though range and pain are good. And if strength is still building want to.wait till full before going 25knots

Did 38.5 knots last week - felt rock solid!

Send me your surgeon details, if I need mine done I am flying to qld!