Posted on 20th Jul 2022 at 3:56pm
In this piece, Amie Button provides an insight into rotator cuff tendinopathy:
- Often painful to raise the arm overhead (painful arc 80-120 degrees) and take the hand behind the back.
- Pain worse on activity.
- Sometimes pain at night.
- Tendon degeneration (tendinopathy) leads to pain inhibition – the rotator cuff fails to control the humeral head and it migrates upwards causing secondary impingement (consequence, not a disease process).
- Variation in normal anatomy more vulnerable to impingement but still secondary.
Tendinopathy is the start of a process which can lead to rotator cuff tear.
Physiotherapy may include manual therapy techniques, electrotherapy, acupuncture, postural correction and motor control retraining, stretching, strengthening of the rotator cuff and scapular muscles and education.
