Rotator Cuff Syndrome

I'm no expert, simply someone who suffered with an injury to my rotator cuff and took a keen interest in it as a result. Understanding the injury was the first step to recovery. Having gone through this painful condition myself and made a full recovery it seemed sensible to write down my experience for others.

The rotator cuff is a band of four muscles that help to move and stabilise the shoulder joint. The shoulder is a ball and socket joint but unlike the hip joint the socket is made up of cartilage rather than bone and the ball of the joint isn't enclosed as it is in the hip joint but sits in a shallow socket, being held in place by the group of muscles that make up the rotator cuff.

This allows the shoulder to go through the wide range of movement that we enjoy but also leaves us open to one of the most common shoulder injuries which is rotator cuff syndrome.

Rotator Cuff Syndrome can effect any of these four muscles, either through general wear and tear as we get older or through a specific injury. In my case it was down to lifting badly and tearing one of the muscles. Because of the damage the tendons of the muscle can become inflamed. As these muscles run under and over the bones of the shoulder this inflammation can cause pain. This is known as shoulder impingement.

Always get a shoulder injury checked out by a doctor as it is important to rule out other problems before arriving at the diagnosis of rotator cuff syndrome.

The injury can take several months to repair and in some cases surgery is recommended to try to repair the damage, usually followed by physiotherapy. Steroid injections and treatment with anti inflammatory drugs can also help. In my case the steroids alleviated the symptoms short term but within about six weeks the pain had returned and I was offered surgery. It was whilst waiting for that surgery that I started to research the subject and discovered that physiotherapy is used in most shoulder injuries as part of the fix. So after a bit more research I started some shoulder specific exercises aimed at strengthening the rotator cuff, which in turn strengthen the whole shoulder joint.

I started with very small shoulder movements, being careful to avoid any pain as this was a sign of possible injury. As the weeks went on I was able to increase the exercises in terms of difficulty and time. After a couple of months I ended up pain free, with full movement and a shoulder that felt as good as new. I have since postponed the surgery to see how my shoulder holds up but three months on I am confident that the surgery will be cancelled.