Yoga and Meditation

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.

The initial sign that something is wrong in your shoulder is a light pain which throbs at intervals. Most people make the mistake of ignoring this pain and just take a pain killer. The pain killer does nothing except block the receptors that detect the sensation of pain or even prevent the signals of pain from travelling to the brain. As a result, the absence of pain makes people use their shoulder more and cause further trauma to the muscles. So, when the effect of the pain killer wears off, the pain returns with a vengeance and even the mobility of the shoulder joint is affected. Many times, other early symptoms of this problem include swelling in the shoulder which may or may not be accompanied by swelling, weakness and stiffness in the joint. These symptoms usually are experienced before the actual tearing of the joint. This is because slow and steady wear and tear are actually the cause of the problem.

A condition called “frozen shoulder” (adhesive capsulitis) may develop if no treatment is sought after experiencing the earlier torn rotator cuff symptoms. This condition is characterized by a reduction in the ability to move the shoulder, often to the point where even routine tasks like dressing or driving can be done only with the greatest difficulty.

It is often not until torn rotator cuff symptoms become truly unbearable that many people begin to pay attention. The symptoms worsen over time as the rotator cuff becomes increasingly inflamed - and once the symptoms have worsened to this point, the condition is severe enough that it can take years to make a full recovery. Instead of letting the condition progress to this point, it’s best to pay attention to symptoms and start using a rotator cuff exercise program once you begin to experience symptoms. Taking pain relievers does nothing but temporarily mask the symptoms. This makes it all too easy to worsen the damage by continuing to strain the rotator cuff, meaning that the symptoms will return with increasing severity as the damage continues to be done.

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.

It’s important to diagnose these torn rotator cuff symptoms at the right time to ensure that the problem is completely healed. These days the diagnosis can be done in a variety of ways such as, ultrasound, X rays, arthrogram, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and a detailed physical examination. Depending on the severity of the torn rotator cuff symptoms, there are a number of ways to treat the problem including ice packs, heat, physical therapy, exercise and even steroids for acute cases.

Tom Nicholson has spent years helping sufferers of carpal tunnel syndrome. Please follow this link to find out more about having asore wrist.