Rotator Cuff Tear and Shoulder Pain

Any kind of pain can affect your ability to function normally and can decrease your overall quality of life. The mobility of our arms provides the means to complete daily tasks and work, but with repetitive movements, stress, and aging your shoulders can suffer injury.
With proper diagnosis and whole-body treatment, you can find relief and healing.

The Anatomical Structures

The shoulder joint is one of the most complex joints with only several ligaments and tendons to hold the head of the humerus, the glenoid cavity, and the process of scapular together. There are also a few bursas underneath the bony structure or tendons. The tendons are associated with muscles such as biceps brachialis, triceps brachialis, teres major, teres minor, infraspinatus, supraspinatus, and subscapularis. The last four muscles’ tendons form the rotator cuff.

The Treatment

Step One

The first key to success is to reach an accurate diagnosis through injury history, physical examination, X-ray, or MRI.

Step Two

Rest and protection of the involved shoulder joint help avoid further injuries. The patient should get adequate treatment as soon as possible since a 40% of partial tear may eventually develop into a total tear. In case of emergency, the patient may need surgical repair under the following conditions: such as if the rotator cuff tear is larger than 50 %, a dislocated fracture bone or fragment, or if major blood vessels and nerves are severed.

Step Three

Physical therapy, acupuncture, cupping, external application of Chinese herbs, and moxibustion are very effective in reducing swelling and pain, improving oxygen and nutrients supply with better blood circulation, eliminating inflammatory factors, and strengthening muscles and ligaments.
The above modalities should be introduced as soon as possible, which can speed up healing, and patients can resume sports or daily activities much sooner.

Step Four

Because of poor blood supply to the joint capsule, ligaments, and tendons, the natural healing usually results in scar tissue and fat built around the injury site. The revolutionary therapy, Functional Medicine Therapy has demonstrated great hope for a close-to-perfect healing for shoulder injuries because stem cells are not only able to differentiate as local tissue and repair the damage; they also secrete growth factors and anti-inflammatory factors to speed up healing, according to clinical and animal research. In order to achieve the best result, the accuracy of injection sites.