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For the patient who is a pitcher, a swimmer, a tennis player, golfer, or a participant in any sport or activity where an “overhead” arm movement is required, the first step in understanding rotator cuff weakness is to understand that surgery is not the only option that can restore shoulder
strength.

The Treatment Options

You are an athlete or someone whose job requires a lot of overhead arm motion. You are suffering severe pain in your shoulder and decide to seek medical advice. In most cases the doctor you see will send you off to an imaging center for an MRI of your shoulder. The results come back and to your horror the doctor tells you that you have tears in the rotator cuff that will require surgery.

If you are an athlete and you have a said Rotator Cuff Tear, this will certainly disable you for a year or more, if you are a worker whose job requires shoulder strength, you either live with the pain or look into extended time away from the job.

Understanding the Options

The rotator cuff is comprised of four muscles; the supraspinatus, infraspinatus, teres minor, and subscapularis that create a “cuff” around the shoulder that holds the shoulder head or ball (humerus ) and the shoulder blade (scapula) together forming the shoulder joint.

Shoulder pain typical comes, not from the muscles but their supporting tendons that hold the muscles to the bone. Commonly referred to as rotator cuff tendinitis (inflammation of the tendons). Unfortunately many doctors are not aware of two treatment options that can restore muscle strength by rebuilding the muscles and tendon attachments such as for example Prolotherapy.

Speaking of that, Prolotherapy, the injection of dextrose, and Platelet Rich Plasma Therapy, the injection of blood platelets for more severe injury to the tendons, have shown themselves very effective at restoring shoulder strength. Alright here is the short version of how they work: Both therapies (Prolotherapy and Platelet Rich Plasma Therapy) work by injecting a concentrated solution into the injured tendons that creates a controlled inflammation.

The inflammation in this case works to rush blood, nutrients, and cells called fibroblasts to the tendon.  To learn more about prolotherapy, contact a prolotherapy doctor like Marc Darrow at 11645 Wilshire Blvd # 120, Los Angeles, CA (310) 231-7000.