Injured rotator cuff

cxeex

Any tips, exorcises anyone used to help this heal quicker?

mom23mangos

See a physiotherapist. I also got a lot of help from a chiropractor that did deep tissue work. Time....give it logs of time. Avoid NSAIDs. Ice, Ice baby. Try to teach yourself to sleep on your back with your arms by you sides. When ready, start with eccentric exercises. Do not do any pushing exercises until completely healed. Using resistance bands, do Y, T and W pulls, face pulls, straight arm scapular pushups and pullups, etc. Your PT should be able to give you a proper routine depending on the extent of your injuries.

ElizabethKalmbach

Second on hitting up the physiotherapist. Shoulders are ridiculously complex and they should check you over for other complications and assign you work at the level your recovery is best ready for.

sgt1372

If you've torn a ligament in your rotator cuff, it will NOT heal because ligaments can NOT heal themselves.

I've torn ligaments in both shoulders at different times and as a result of different causes and the only "cure" to eliminate the pain and restore full function was surgery in both cases.

The only way to know for sure if you have a torn ligament is to get an MRI scan authorized by an orthopedic surgeon, which is what I suggest you do if you think you actually injured your rotator cuff.

If that is the case, any other treatment will only be ameliorative for the pain or discomfort but will not solve the underlying problem.

spiriteagle99

Go to a PT or orthopedist. My doctor wasn't sure whether I had bursitis or a rotator tear so first tried cortisone shots in the shoulder. When that didn't work, he sent me to PT. They gve me exercises and did 3-stim and ice treatments. After about 2-3 months I stopped going, but continued to do the exercises on my own. It took about 18 months to heal fully.

cxeex

I’ve seen a physio who said heat not ice (I’ve had this 3 weeks already). It’s injured not torn.
He’s given me 3 exercises that I have to do every day, just wanted to know if there was anything else I could add in.

sijomial

sgt1372 wrote: »

If you've torn a ligament in your rotator cuff, it will NOT heal because ligaments can NOT heal themselves.

@sgt1372
Not true.

There are different grades of ligament tears and grade one and two tears do repair themselves.
Grade one (minor injury) repairs the collagen structure in weeks, grade two (which has a very wide range of severity) typically heals in months.

Grade three tears are when there is a complete rupture (separation) of the ligament which is what you seem to be describing.

I've had numerous grade 1 tears (no big deal to recover from), took 6 months to recover from a high severity grade 2 medial knee ligament injury last year and have a grade 3 ligament tear (knee PCL) which couldn't be repaired.

sschauer513

I'll repeat what already been said see the doctor and follow the PT schedule. I partially tore mine almost 2 years ago and it's still not what I'd consider 100% but it's certainly better but still feel weakness in it. The shoulder is a complicated beast and hard to really not use it to let things heal like other muscles. But resistance bands is what I use and still use to strengthen it. Just get it in your head depending on how bad it is it is a long long process and annoying might feel 100% one day and tweak it just a tad back to pain.

Cherimoose

cxeex wrote: »

just wanted to know if there was anything else I could add in.

Muscles & tendons heal best with frequent, light movement, as opposed to keeping it immobile. So i would do simple arm movements every few minutes throughout the day, even if they're small movements. Just avoid any movements that hurt.

How did you hurt it?

sijomial

sijomial wrote: »

sgt1372 wrote: »

If you've torn a ligament in your rotator cuff, it will NOT heal because ligaments can NOT heal themselves.

@sgt1372
Not true.

There are different grades of ligament tears and grade one and two tears do repair themselves.
Grade one (minor injury) repairs the collagen structure in weeks, grade two (which has a very wide range of severity) typically heals in months.

Grade three tears are when there is a complete rupture (separation) of the ligament which is what you seem to be describing.

I've had numerous grade 1 tears (no big deal to recover from), took 6 months to recover from a high severity grade 2 medial knee ligament injury last year and have a grade 3 ligament tear (knee PCL) which couldn't be repaired.

Would the person who disagreed please speak up?
This information is easily verifiable. Put in a few seconds effort and it's blindingly obvious to anyone that healing of minor to moderate ligament tears is entirely normal and expected.

Cherimoose

sijomial wrote: »

Would the person who disagreed please speak up?

Wasn't me, but all this talk about ligaments doesn't help the OP, because the rotator cuff muscles don't have ligaments.

lorrpb

My PT gave me 8-9 exercises to do and others to avoid. My exercises might not be right for you. They've also been doing heat, then I finally got to ortho and it sounds like he's likely to recommend ice. Won't know for sure until after MRI. I suggest you talk to PT again and/or see orthopedics. Their advice will be specific to you, as opposed to random internet advice which may or may not be safe for your injury.

sijomial

Cherimoose wrote: »

sijomial wrote: »

Would the person who disagreed please speak up?

Wasn't me, but all this talk about ligaments doesn't help the OP, because the rotator cuff muscles don't have ligaments.

Indeed (although the muscles and tendons do work together with the coracohumeral and glenohumeral ligaments to control the movement of the shoulder).
I just think it's very important not to spread general misinformation that people need an operation to fix a ligament tear when that's actually a minority outcome.