What is rotator cuff tendinitis(RCT)?
Your shoulder is made up of three bones: your upper arm bone (humerus), your shoulder blade (scapula), and your collarbone (clavicle).
Your arm is kept in your shoulder socket by your rotator cuff. These muscles and tendons form a covering around the head of your upper arm bone and attach it to your shoulder blade.
There is a lubricating sac called a bursa between the rotator cuff and the bone on top of your shoulder (acromion). The bursa allows the rotator cuff tendons to glide freely when you move your arm.
When there’s damage or irritation to your tendons. That is when the problem is called rotator cuff tendinitis.
There are other types of rotator cuff such as shoulder impingement or rotator cuff bursitis.
How do you know if it is RCT?
The symptoms of RTC are as follows:
- Shoulder stiffness
- Pain when raising or lowering the arm
- Clicking sound when using the arm
- Pain extending from the front to the side of the shoulder
- Minor pain when the shoulder is still
- Sharp pain when using the shoulder
- Swelling and/or tenderness at the shoulder
- Pain in the shoulder at night
- Shoulder tenderness prevents the ability to do daily tasks
- Difficulty or pain when reaching behind the back
You could be prone to RTC if you constantly have to do repeated motions or if you have to very often reach up, that is, if you play volleyball, baseball, tennis or swim, or if you are a painter, construction worker, etc.
The solution is to get those inflammations, swelling, tenderness down and have the damages heal.
How can a chiropractic help heal RTC?
Chiropractors are known for their non-invasive, pain free, effective treatment of the body.
They focus on methods which allow the body to heal itself. They speed up the healing of the body, in a way.
- For RTC, Chiropractors would first want to soothe the pain, relax the area and allow for the inflammations, swelling and tenderness to reduce and they could do this by electric muscle stimulations or ultrasound wave machines, or both.
- Then, they would need for the shoulder to be properly aligned and then allow it to heal on its own. This can be done using chiropractic adjustments which align the shoulder properly, relax the area and promote proper blood flow, providing enough and more nutrients to the area. This boosts the healing speed of the body. The body now starts healing the shoulder at a much faster rate than before.
- The follow up of a proper alignment is to ensure that it stays aligned. Chiropractors could do this by exercises, stretches, practices which would increase the mobility, flexibility and strength of the shoulder, thereby, ensuring that RTC stays healed.
- Chiropractors could recommend a few lifestyle and food changes to ensure optimal healing and recovery while ensuring pain doesn’t come around again, by ensuring the cause is not going to come back.
The treatment necessities vary depending on the severity of the case. For some only lifestyle recommendations with a few exercises is necessary while for some the whole process and some more is necessary.
So, those having RTC, book an appointment with your nearest chiropractor and get rid of that pain and problem!
Happy healing!