Help for Your Painful Rotator Cuff

Your rotator cuff is a group of tendons that connect the head of your upper arm bone to your shoulder blade. If the tendons in your rotator cuff are over-stressed due to trauma or repetitive use, they can become damaged or torn.

Rotator cuff injuries typically cause a primary symptom of a deep and aching pain felt within your shoulder. It’s not comfortable to sleep, drive, or type with a rotator cuff injury. If you’re experiencing symptoms of a rotator cuff injury, Dr. Derek Farr, Dr. Nirav Gupta, and the team at Twin Palm Orthopedics can help you find the right treatment plan for you.

We diagnose and treat people with rotator cuff injuries from our office in Ocala, Florida. Here’s how our orthopedic surgery experts assess and address rotator cuff tears, strains, aches, and pains.

Symptoms of a torn rotator cuff

Your rotator cuff injury can vary in severity. You could have a partial tear, with a tendon damaged but still connected. Or, a complete tear could leave one of your rotator cuff tendons in two completely separate pieces that aren’t attached to the bone.

Without a functioning rotator cuff, you can’t rotate or lift the attached arm, and your shoulder joint is weak. You’ll feel a deep ache in your shoulder that may worsen overnight and pain when making specific movements like reaching out or raising the associated arm. You might also experience cracking or popping when moving your shoulder if you have a rotator cuff tear.

Diagnosing your rotator cuff injury

If you arrive with shoulder pain or other signs of a rotator cuff injury, your provider at Twin Palm Orthopedics starts by learning more about the condition of your shoulder joint. We use an examination, as well as imaging tests, to confirm your partial or complete rotator cuff tear.

Once we’ve accurately diagnosed your condition, it’s time to put together your treatment plan, relieve your symptoms of shoulder pain, and restore the strength, integrity, and flexibility of your shoulder joint.

Treatments for rotator cuff injuries

Your provider at Twin Palm Orthopedics recommends the most conservative and least invasive plan possible for your treatment with effective results.

Your rotator cuff pain may improve with rest, and if you only have a mild rotator cuff injury, we may simply recommend some time using an immobilization sling, icing therapy for pain and inflammation control, and over-the-counter pain medications.

If you have a significant rotator cuff injury, you may benefit from pain management options like steroid injections. Restorative medicine treatments can help your body to heal more rapidly, and physical therapy and targeted strengthening exercises support and re-develop your healing rotator cuff.

Some rotator cuff injuries need surgical treatment when other conservative approaches don’t do enough to relieve your painful symptoms. You might also opt for surgery if you need to preserve a high degree of strength and integrity in your rotator cuff, for instance as part of essential work or sports overhead arm movements.

The team at Twin Palm Orthopedics offers minimally invasive arthroscopic surgery for rotator cuff repairs, reducing your risk of complications and shortening your recovery time.

For help relieving your aching shoulder pain and other rotator cuff injury symptoms, get in touch with Dr. Farr, Dr. Gupta, and the Twin Palm Orthopedics team today. Schedule your initial consultation appointment online or over the phone now.