Rotator Cuff Disease Treatment in Kenya

This is the damage to the rotator cuff that can be due to trauma, as from falling and injuring the shoulder; overuse in sports, particularly those that involve repetitive overhead motions; inflammation, as from tendonitis, bursitis, or arthritis of the shoulder; or degeneration, as from aging.

Symptoms

Symptoms of shoulder impingement syndrome include:

1. Pain when your arms are extended above your head.
2. Pain when lifting your arm, lowering your arm from a raised position, or when reaching.
3. Pain and tenderness in the front of your shoulder.
4. Pain that moves from the front of your shoulder to the side of your arm.
5. Pain when lying on the affected side.
6. Pain or achiness at night, which affects your ability to sleep.
7. Pain when reaching behind your back, like reaching into a back pocket or zipping up a zipper.
8. Shoulder and/or arm weakness and stiffness.

Causes

Rotator cuff disease is damage to the rotator cuff from any cause.

1. It can be from an acute injury or from repetitive strains.
2. This can lead to a minor strain injury, a partial tear of the tendons, or a complete tear of tendons with loss of shoulder joint function.
3. Rotator cuff injury is one of the most common causes of shoulder pain.

Treatment

Rotator cuff tears especially small tears of a single tendon in a person of advanced age can be managed initially without surgery. This treatment includes:

1. Avoid persistent overhead duties or heavy lifting or any other specific aggravating activity.

2. Physiotherapy is designed to maintain flexibility and improve the strength of the remaining good rotator cuff tendons and also maintain good posture.

3. Analgesic and anti-inflammatory medication.

4. Injections of local anesthetic with cortisone. These injections help to settle inflammation however do not alter the underlying structure of the tendons. Excessive use of cortisone is recognized to weaken tendons and should be discouraged.

Large tears of the rotator cuff which involve one or more of the tendons particularly in a younger person are best treated with surgery in the first instance. Surgery is also appropriate for the smaller tears discussed above when symptoms do not resolve with the measures outlined.