One of the scapulohumeral muscles in human anatomy, the rotator cuff is comprised of four main muscles, namely the subscapularis muscle, teres minor muscle, infraspinatus muscle and supraspinatus muscle. Certain factors can cause significant pain to this part of the body including rotator cuff impingement and rotator cuff tear. To help solve such problems, it is good to know how to fix rotator cuff pain.
Materials Needed
When fixing pain caused by injury or too much stress on the rotator cuff, you need to have a hot compress and a cold compress. In addition, it is also good to have a pain medication like cortisone injection or other anti-inflammatory drugs. It is also important to have a swimming pool available for the purpose of rehabilitation. Once you have these items, you can now move on and start treating such difficult and painful condition.
Steps
Before treating this kind of problem, you need to monitor first if the pain is persistent. In case there is pain when the arm is raised, damage to the rotator cuff is very much possible. In case the pain is too much too bear, verify your condition by consulting the doctor and getting an x-ray.
If the pain is not that bad, treat the problem by applying a cold compress and a hot compress alternately. This can actually prevent or reduce the swelling in the area, which is commonly the main source of pain. Taking pain medications can also help like a cortisone injection, which can reduce the amount of pain dramatically. When the pain is associated with inflammation of the joint or bursitis, it is advisable to take an anti-inflammatory drug.
Go and spend some time in the swimming pool. Water resistance can serve as therapy to the joint, which can help a lot in reducing pain. When pain is persistent, it is good to dangle the arm. Moving the shoulder can prevent it from becoming immovable, a condition often referred to as frozen shoulder. By dangling the arm regularly, the pain is reduced while the shoulder remains mobile.
A rehabilitation plan can also help, which must include the strengthening and conditioning of the muscles surrounding the rotator cuff. It is also good to perform physical exercises that can loosen up the rotator cuff. In case all these efforts fail to eliminate the pain and the injury, you may want to consider surgery. The possible procedures for this kind of problem are general surgery and arthroscopic surgery. Furthermore, it is also important to consult the doctor right away.