Rotator Cuff Surgery in Surat

What the rotator cuff does

The shoulder trades stability for range of movement — it moves further than any other joint in the body, and the price is that the ball sits against a very shallow socket. Four tendons wrap around the joint to hold the ball centred while the larger muscles move the arm.

When one of those tendons tears, two things happen. Lifting the arm becomes weak, because the tendon that should be doing the work is no longer attached. And the ball stops being held centred, so it rides upward and grinds under the bony arch above it.

This is why the useful question is not “does it hurt?” but “is it weak?”. Pain is common to many shoulder problems. Weakness on resisted movement is what points at a tear.

Symptoms of a cuff tear

• Pain on the outer upper arm, often referred down towards the elbow
• Weakness lifting the arm, particularly above shoulder height
• Night pain, especially lying on the affected side — highly characteristic
• Difficulty reaching behind the back or into a back pocket
• Trouble with overhead tasks such as reaching a shelf or drying hair
• A catching or grating sensation on movement

How tears happen

• Degenerate tears — the tendon wears with age and eventually fails, often with no single injury. The commonest pattern past fifty.
• Traumatic tears — a fall onto an outstretched hand, a shoulder dislocation, or a sudden heavy lift.
• Repetitive overhead loading — work or sport involving sustained overhead activity.

A sudden loss of power after a fall in an older adult is often assumed to be bruising and left. If weakness persists beyond a few weeks it warrants examination, because an acute tear repaired early does better than one repaired late.

Does every tear need repair?

No. Many degenerate partial tears are managed successfully without surgery, using physiotherapy to strengthen the remaining cuff and the shoulder blade muscles, activity modification, and injection where pain is limiting rehabilitation.

Repair is generally advised for acute full-thickness tears in active patients, for tears causing significant weakness rather than pain alone, and where a good trial of rehabilitation has not restored useful function. It becomes less appropriate where the tendon has retracted badly and the muscle has already turned to fat — at that point repair may not be achievable, which is another argument against waiting indefinitely.

Frequently asked questions