Your rotator cuff is a collection of four muscles and four tendons that attach your shoulder blade to your upper arm bone (humerus). These strong soft tissues provide your shoulder joint with an immense amount of strength and stability, but like all soft tissues in our body, they are not immune from stress and the natural aging process. If the rotator cuff is overstressed, you can develop microtears in the tendons. These small or partial rotator cuff tears require proactive treatment, otherwise there’s a good chance that they progress into a complete tear. In today’s blog, we explore how partial rotator cuff tears are typically treated.
Causes And Symptoms Of Partial Rotator Cuff Tears
The tendons that make up your rotator cuff are about 1 centimeter thick and 2-3 centimeters wide, and they provide a fair amount of strength and stability to the shoulder complex. Overstress or repetitive strain on the shoulder can cause very small tears to develop in these tendons, which can cause mild symptoms or lead to feelings of instability in the shoulder joint. It’s imperative that you don’t ignore these symptoms, even if they are mild, because continuing to put the same amount of stress on the rotator cuff is a recipe for a more severe tear.
Overstress is the most common cause of partial rotator cuff tears, but this is also exacerbated by the aging process. Our tendons lose some of their natural flexibility as they age, and as they become less flexible, their ability to handle stress becomes compromised. It takes less and less to overstress these rotator cuff tendons as you get older, which increases your risk of a partial or complete tear.
The difficult part about diagnosing and treating partial rotator cuff tears is that it’s not always obvious that you’re dealing with a partial rupture. More mild tears may be asymptomatic or present with faint discomfort or stability issues. If there are any signs at all, consider taking a few steps to improve the health of your shoulder joint so that the partial tear can heal instead of continuing to get bigger.
When symptoms do develop, the most common symptoms of partial rotator cuff tears include:
- Pain/Discomfort
- Shoulder instability
- Difficulty lifting objects away from your body
- Stiffness
- Dull ache after stressing the shoulder area
If you’re dealing with any of the above symptoms, especially if you’re over the age of 60, consider bringing it up at your next physical or during a consultation with a shoulder specialist, because as we mentioned above, partial tears can worsen without proactive treatment.
Diagnosing And Treating Partial Rotator Cuff Tears
Talking with a medical specialist and a physical exam can suggest there may be an issue with your rotator cuff, but because symptoms are often non-existent or mild, the clearest way to diagnose a partial rotator cuff tear is with the help of an MRI. An MRI will provide an in-depth look at the health of the soft tissues in your shoulder joint, and not only will it be able to pinpoint which rotator cuff tendon is damaged, it will also allow the specialist to understand the extent of the damage, which is key for developing a treatment plan.
Treatment will obviously be based on the extent of your damage, but because it’s a partial tear, there’s a very good chance that your doctor will develop a comprehensive non-operative care plan to hopefully help the tendon heal. While your individual program may vary, patients suffering from partial rotator cuff tears oftentimes pursue a combination of the following treatments:
- Short-term rest and activity avoidance
- Over-the-counter anti-inflammatories
- Cold/Hot therapy
- Physical therapy
- Stretching exercises
The last two treatments are key, as it will be these proactive treatments that restore the most strength, flexibility and function to the rotator cuff tendon and shoulder joint as it heals. The other treatments can help to manage symptoms, but it is the active exercises that will yield the most benefit, so know that you’ll need to put in some work on your end if you want to experience the fullest recovery.
More hands-on treatment like corticosteroid injections and minimally invasive corrective procedures may be necessary if the partial tear progresses or completely ruptures, but most mild and moderate tears heal well enough that operative care is not necessary. We’re confident that we can find the right solution for your shoulder needs, so if you’re dealing with a partial or complete rotator cuff tear, or another shoulder issue altogether, give Dr. Holloway and his team a call today at (865) 410-7887.
