Rotator Cuff Tear |partial rotator cuff tear|rotator cuff tear surgery

Do you have Rotator Cuff Tear?

Rotator cuff tear is the most common pain and disability among adults in United States. In 2008 about 2 million people went to their doctors to treat rotator cuff problems. A rotator cuff tear weakens your shoulder and daily activities such as combing your hair or getting dressed becomes painful and difficult task.

Anatomy of shoulder

Your shoulder is made up of three bones: upper arm bone-humerus, shoulder blade- scapula and collar bone -clavicle. It is ball and socket joint and the head of the humerus fits in to a shallow socket in scapula.

The head of the humerus is kept in the socket in scapula by the rotator cuff.The rotator cuff is a network of four muscles that come together as tendons to form a covering around the head of the humerus.The rotator cuff attaches the humerus to the shoulder blade and helps to lift and rotate your arm.Between the rorator cuff and the bone of top of your shoulder there is a lubricating sac which is called bursa. This is what allows the rotator cuff tendons to glide freely. Most often this gets inflamed and becomes painful when you have injury to rotator cuff tendons.

What are the different types of Tear?

Partial Tear

In this kind of tear, it only damages soft tissue and the soft tissue does not completely split.
Full Thickness Tear
It is also called as complete tear. It splits the soft tissue in to two pieces. In most cases the tendon tear off where they attach to the head of the humers.

What are the causes of rotator cuff tear?

Injury

If you fall down on your outstretched arm, or lift something, which is too heavy with a jerking motion. It can also occur with other shoulder injuries such as broken collar bone or dislocated shoulder.

Degeneration

Most of the tears occur as result of wearing down of tendon. This occurs naturally as we age. Rotator cuff problems are more common in dominant hand. Several factors such as repetitive stress, lack of blood supply and bone spurs contribute to it.

What are symptoms?

Pain at rest and night; especially, when lying on the effected shoulder. Pain with specific movements or when lifting or lowering your arms. A person with rotator cuff problems may feel weakness while lifting or lowering arm.You may also experience crackling sensation while moving shoulder in certain positions.

How does physical therapy help rotator cuff tears?

The main goal of physical therapy is to strength the muscles around the shoulder joint. An experienced physical therapist targets smaller but important muscles which are involved in the motion that are commonly neglected. Building up the strength of these small muscles is important, as it compensate for the tendons and improves mechanics of the shoulder. Most of the rotator cuff problems can be resolved by physical therapy and will help to avoid surgery.

Sanjaimon Naduparambil,
Physical Therapist

Phone: (954) 252-9619

Sanjay Naduparambil is a Florida State licensed Physical Therapist who graduated from the Dr. MGR Medical University in Chennai, India. Sanjay has over 20 years of experience in a variety of treatment settings including acute care, cardiac rehabilitation, wound care, neurological treatment, home healthcare and outpatient orthopedics. He has spent the last 10 years perfecting his treatment skills in the area of orthopedics and has been described by his patients as a highly competent and compassionate clinician. In early 2012, Sanjay established Maya Physical Therapy, Inc with the goal of providing the community with quality therapy services that go beyond the standards of care.

Sanjay has furthered his education/training by completing continuing education courses in the following areas: kinesiology taping, vestibular rehabilitation, cardiac rehabilitation, and hip/ knee/ankle/ shoulder diagnosis and treatment. He has also completed the first and second phase of the McKenzie post graduate program for cervical, thoracic, and lumbar spine mechanical diagnosis and treatment from McKenize Institute USA. In addition to his qualifications as a Physical Therapist, Sanjay has received his certification as a Personal Trainer by the International Sports and Fitness Trainers Association.

Sanjay’s professional interests include expanding his already extensive knowledge base through ongoing clinical education in manual treatment and differential diagnosis.