Nonoperative Management of Rotator Cuff Tendonitis, Called Impingement Syndrome

The most common cause of shoulder pain in this country is from
impingement syndrome, also known as rotator cuff tendonitis.
Impingement syndrome is a term that stands for pinching of the soft
tissue between the area of the shoulder called the acromion and the
rotator cuff musculature. The area that gets pinched when you lift or
rotate your arm is called a bursa. A bursa is a term for a piece of
soft tissue that overlies musculature and provides cushioning and
protection and lubrication. The rotator cuff bursa turns into bursitis
from inflammation of the soft tissue from the repetitive activity.This
repetitive activity can be from something such as weightlifting, golf,
tennis, really any activity that involves repetitive weightlifting and
rotating the shoulder such that the bursal sac is pinched repetitively
up against the bone called the acromion. The good news with
impingement syndrome is that over 90% of the time, conservative
treatments work and the pain gets better without having to go to
surgery.Conservative treatments for impingement syndrome
include:Benign Neglect - It's not a fatal condition, you can simply
neglect it and deal with the discomfort
Steroid injections
Physical Therapy
Alternative Treatments - Chiropractic and/or acupuncture
Pain Medications such as Tylenol, NSAIDS, or short term narcotics for
severe pain
The good news is that these conservative treatments typically work
very well and the patient's pain gets under control.
Utilizing any
medications for a chronic time period is not a good choice for
impingement syndrome. They can become addictive and pain from rotator
cuff tendonitis is simply not worthy of chronic narcotics.Should
surgery become necessary, and once again this is less than 10% of the
time, the procedure is called an arthroscopy. The procedure is usually
fairly short, an hour or less, and involves shaving a piece of bone
off of underneath the acromion bone in order to give the person back
more room for clearance as the shoulder elevates and rotates during
activities.So in summary, the good news is that rotator cuff
tendinitis, which is typically called impingement syndrome, is a
condition that by and large they can be treated non-operatively very
effectively.