Rotator Cuff and Shoulder help

Almost everyone has had an injury to the shoulder.  This can happen from falls on the elbow or overuse, or and over extension behind the back injury. Sometimes years before it's apparent.

The great thing is what happens next is the body naturally tries to repair that damage and it does it with scar tissue in the ligaments and tendons.  That allows you to get back to what you were doing quickly, within weeks really. When you're younger, you have a lot of leeway. As you age, the scar tissue coupled with loss of cartilage starts to remind you of the day it was injured.

The down-side is that injured tendon has nerve information it sends to the brain and that causes reactive immobilization to prevent more injury.  A signal down the nerve to increase the tension in the arm and shoulder to keep it from moving too much.

The next thing that happens is the loss of range of motion in the joint diminishes the nutrition within the joint itself.  Meanwhile, the original injured tendon across the joint builds up scar tissue which is not as elastic as the original tissue.  And that scar tissue takes up more space so when the tendon slides as you raise your arm, it hits everything around it so everything gets inflamed.

Here's a test you can do at home.  Stand with your arm at your side, make a fist and point your thumb out to your side.  In that position, raise your arm over your head.  Do this in a mirror.  Your upper arm should go straight up without you have to lean away from the arm you’re testing.  If you can’t do this, try it again with your thumb pointed down.  You will likely be able to get further.  This is indicative of a rotator cuff injury.   If not addressed, your range will continue to decrease.  Sometimes deteriorating into “Frozen Shoulder Syndrome”.  That’s when you can’t even get your upper arm to 90 degrees and you slowly change your wardrobe to button-up shirts and sweaters because you can’t raise your arms high enough to put on a sweatshirt or t-shirt.

Medically, this is treated by anti-inflammatory medication and range of motion exercises. 

The healing process is inflammation, so anti-inflammation means anti-healing. 

Our process here relies on restoring the integrity of the joint so range of motion returns.  This is dependent on nervous system working properly as well, so we don’t ignore that.  We check all systems before we start. 

We have so many cases of difficult shoulders working again.  We also  have a few we can’t help.  Because it’s crucial to catch it early enough.  We may not be able to help everyone because once it gets really bad, like frozen shoulder syndrome, to be honest, it just hurts to get it worked on.   Hopefully, if this is you, it’s not too late.   Call us.  We can help.

Vibrant Life Center

Oakdale, MN 55128

Dr. Barrett and Dr. Fleming

651-777-3611.