How To Treat A Rotator Cuff Tear

Practice Daily Shoulder Stretching and Strengthening Exercises

When an individual suffers from a rotator cuff tear, it's important they don't exercise too strenuously while the tear is healing itself. However, they might want to practice daily shoulder stretching and strengthening exercises to help improve the motion and strength of their shoulder and the muscles within. These exercises should be very simple and non-strenuous ones that don't place too much pressure on the shoulder. When individuals suffer from a rotator cuff tear, they won't be able to move their shoulder properly without experiencing sharp pain. Since they automatically won't move their shoulder much following the injury, it's very easy for the shoulder to become rigid in the weeks and months following the injury, which limits motion. By performing gentle stretches each day, patients will be able to restore movement to the shoulder. Strengthening exercises like inward rotation and outward rotation exercises should increase the strength of the patient's shoulder muscles and reduce the possibility of another rotator cuff tear in the future.

Take Days Off From Exercising

With a rotator cuff tear, anywhere from one to four of the major tendons that make up the rotator cuff can be torn. A higher number of torn tendons equates to a lengthier and more sensitive recovery period. This type of injury is highly problematic because the shoulder is used constantly for any number of activities, which makes it difficult to avoid using the shoulder. It will likely take around a year or so for the shoulder to get back to normal if the recovery process goes according to plan. During this time, patients will need to maintain a delicate balance of strengthening the shoulder while also avoiding doing anything that could reinjure the affected tendons. As such, it's important for them to take days off from exercising. While patients will likely want to stretch the affected shoulder every day, any types of exercises that are more involved than gentle stretches should be spaced out to avoid placing too much stress and pressure on the shoulder.