Certainly rotator cuff injuries can be some of the most aggravating and painful to endure, and when focused on just trying to get through, it often seems as if they won’t ever go away. If you’re there now, you likely know this to be true.

Simple tasks or small efforts are difficult or impossible to do and even getting dressed is a chore rife with pain. The range of motion following a rotator cuff injury can become so severely limited that you may not even be able to lift your arm even halfway, much less grab anything from an upper shelf.

Without a doubt, shoulder injuries can be a challenge to recover from, especially when they involve rotator cuff treatment, as most of them do. This is because shoulders are one of the most complex parts of the body, providing a greater range of motion than any other joint.

The amazing piece of workmanship known as the rotator cuff is the group of muscles and tendons that keep the ball of your upper arm bone firmly in place within the shoulder socket. When working properly it allows full rotation of the shoulder thus providing the arm with freedom of movement in every direction.

It should come as no surprise that rotator cuff injuries are fairly common considering the extreme flexibility offered by this joint. The shoulder can be over-stressed by overhead arm movements, especially when they are repeated a lot, the action of improper lifting, and falling where the shoulder takes a direct impact. Getting older increases risk as flexibility diminishes, and poor posture doesn’t help either.

Working in certain trades like construction and automotive garages increases chances of injury as does participation in various athletic activities like football or baseball. Even though younger people have more elasticity in their joints, they also tend to do more where there is increased chance of over-extending themselves.

Our shoulders extremely wide performance range when its working as advertised is exactly why we feel its loss so much when its not. After an injury, the most prevalent symptom is pain. In some cases nothing you do makes it stop. Reaching for anything is out of the question and even if you could, holding it up to bring it to you would be agonizingly impossible.

The shoulder will often feel weak and just trying to put on a shirt or jacket will be an ordeal. If the injury itself doesn’t force limits on movement, you will likely find that favoring that arm by not sleeping on it will help reduce the pain. In general, the more continuous the pain, the more serious the injury up to the point of a torn rotator cuff.

If you’re suffering now, you likely want to know how fast it can be fixed. The answer depends on the type of injury which ranges from inflammation of the muscle without any permanent damage, to a complete or partial tear of the muscle that might require surgery. Most often, treatment involves self-care measures and exercise therapy.

Initial self-care allows the injury to stabilize by resting the joint, and treating it with cold and heat, using pain and anti-inflammatory medications as needed. Next, start gently exercising the affected muscles after a couple days to keep the muscles limber. Once the injury heals, and some range of motion has returned, the correct rotator cuff exercises will recondition and strengthen the muscles.

Its important to know when medical treatment by a physician is appropriate, but because most non-acute rotator cuff injuries can be treated with self-care and proper exercise therapy, finding a proven regimen to follow is invaluable. You should of course be aware that improper exercises can prolong the healing process or even make the injury worse.

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