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Rotator Cuff Tears
Minimally Invasive Treatment For Maximum Results
The rotator cuff is the group of muscles and tendons that stabilize the shoulder and allow you to move your arm away from your body. Trauma, sports injury, or repetitive overuse can result in a rotator cuff tear.
Symptoms of a Rotator Cuff Injury
The most common symptom of a rotator cuff tear is pain. Pain from a rotator cuff injury often spans the areas around the front and outer part of the shoulder and often increases in intensity when moved into certain positions.
Other common symptoms of rotator cuff tears include:
- A popping sound or tearing sensation within the shoulder
- Dull aching pain deep in the shoulder
- Pain at night that makes sleeping on the affected side difficult or even impossible
- Muscle weakness, especially when lifting the arm away from the body
Tear Diagnosis
As a fellowship-trained knee, shoulder, and sports medicine specialist, Dr. Goradia is very familiar with these injuries and can detect a rotator cuff tear via a series of examinations and tests. When you visit the office, Dr. Goradia will discuss your symptoms and the circumstances around the time when they first appeared.
During the appointment, you will also be asked to move your arm in several directions or to hold it in various positions to determine any areas of pain, discomfort, or weakness in the shoulder. X-rays may also be utilized to see problems within the bones themselves, though other tests may be needed to confirm a rotator cuff tear.
MRIs may be ordered to confirm the diagnosis of a rotator cuff tear. Not all shoulder pain requires an MRI at the beginning of treatment as insurance may not approve it if other treatments haven’t been tried. In some cases, Dr. Goradia may order an MR Arthrogram, which is an MRI with dye injected into the shoulder, to improve visibility if a labral tear is suspected.
Types of Tears
There are three different types of rotator cuff tears, and treatment options will depend on the level of tear determined by Dr. Goradia. Each level of tear indicates the severity of the injury and will indicate the proper treatment plan to restore the rotator cuff to its normal function.
The three levels are as follows:
- Partial tears that do not completely sever the tendon but may worsen over time and progress to full-thickness tears
- Full-thickness tears that tear the tendon into two separate pieces, requiring a full arthroscopic surgery to repair
- Massive tears even more damaging than full-thickness tears, sometimes deemed unrepairable by other surgeons
Treatment Options for Rotator Cuff Tears
If you have been told elsewhere that your tear cannot be repaired or can’t be done via arthroscopy, consult Dr. Goradia for a second opinion. Dr. Goradia is often able to repair massive rotator cuff tears for patients who have been told their tear is not fixable thanks to his new rotator cuff surgical techniques for the repair and restoration of massive rotator cuff tears that have poor tissue quality or are severely retracted and scarred.
With Dr. Goradia’s technique, donor tissue reinforces the rotator cuff repair. While use of these tissues has existed for many years with open rotator cuff surgery, Dr. Goradia’s technique allows him to place this tissue into the shoulder arthroscopically, meaning a less invasive procedure for the patient with the same results.
Superior capsular reconstruction (SCR) is another type of arthroscopic procedure that utilizes donor tissue. When there is a massive tear associated with bone-on-bone arthritis, this reconstruction can be used instead of a shoulder replacement in young patients.
ARTHROSCOPIC TREATMENT TECHNIQUE
Treatment of Irreparable Rotator Cuff Tear
Double Row Rotator Cuff Repair
Real Success Stories
from Patients We’ve Helped
