Rotator Cuff – Sarah Fischer

Rotator Cuff – Sarah Fischer

The group of muscles known as your rotator cuff is probably my favorite set of muscles and area to treat. Not sure why, it just always has been. It’s a common area for injury, normally due to tendinitis or impingement but in some cases, it can be a tear. If you are in a sport or career that involves a lot of repeated over head movement, you are more susceptible to an injury in the rotator cuff . This “cuff” is made up of four muscles that are attached on and along your scapula and the tendons form laterally attaching onto your humerus.

The four muscles are supraspinatus, infrapsinatus, teres minor and subscapularis. This group of muscles is responsible for keeping your shoulder stable, as well as rotation and elevation. Due to the fact that the supraspinatus tendon passes in a space under your acromion (known as the subacromial space), it makes it easy to impinge and irritate.

Common symptoms of rotator cuff are a dull ache or pain with shoulder movements. Pain will increase when doing activities that require your arm to be at the shoulder level or higher. This can really affect your quality of life depending on the severity of the injury and your daily living activities. If you have had a sudden onset of shoulder pain that is continually getting worse or you can’t get relief from, it is always best to have it looked at and assessed sooner than later.

If the tendon is stuck and impinged, it will continually rub along the bone, leading to chronic pain which can cause the tendon to fray, weaken and tear.  Often, when diagnosed with a rotator cuff injury, it can be successfully relieved by rest and some physical and/or massage therapy. If a tear is involved and depending on the severity, surgery may become an option. There are a lot of causes of shoulder pain, and depending on the type of pain and location will determine if it is impingement, tendinitis or perhaps even bursitis. It’s important to keep ourselves healthy and strong and make sure we do our best to prevent injury and to take care of an injury as soon as possible to try and limit chronic pain and conditions from forming.

At Adica Massage Clinic, we want to adapt each appointment to suit the needs of every client. We offer a variety of massage types including: therapeutic massage, deep tissue massage and even pregnancy massage.