Most people perceive the rotator cuff injury as one that only afflicts the professional athletes, who are subjecting their shoulders to strains rarely facing the shoulders of the laity.
This is why most people initially think of a local pitcher who was just placed on the disabled list before their own shoulder pains or injuries. For those discussing rotator cuff injuries today, I would suspect the names Orlando Hernandez and Jared Wright come up early in the conversation, a they have recently been put on their respective team’s disabled list because of a rotator cuff injury.
However, shoulder injuries are not issues restricted to baseball players. Rotator cuff injuries are particularly common among baseball players because of the way the throwing motion impacts the upper part of the shoulder. Over long periods of time, baseball pitchers and players contract something called impingement syndrome which eventually leads to rotator cuff tendonitis. Impingement syndrome is commonly referred to as the weekend warrior syndrome.
For those who are not professional baseball players, this syndrome can be exasperated by playing basketball, by serving a tennis ball, by throwing a football, etc. All of these are motions that can impact the upper shoulder to the point of injury.
While it is routine to feel somewhat sore after increased activity, particularly as one ages, it is not routine to experience pain over less intense shoulder motions. If routine movements such as turning off the alarm clock or reaching on the top shelf become painful, you need medical attention as the pain is a symptom of rotator cuff tendonitis.
In most cases of rotator cuff tendonitis, the sholuder can be healed and managed with physical therapy and full activity can be restored. However, in some instances steroid injections are needed so to alleviate the pain enough to conduct the physical therapy. Even more rarely than steroid injections, surgery is suggested.
The critical aspect is to treat this problem early, before there is major scarring or rotator cuff tears. Keep in mind that 90% of all rotator cuff tears are the original result of chronic inflammation. It is essentially something that starts small and gets progressively more difficult to heal. If the shoulder is hurting, medical attention should be sought more quickly rather than less.
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