Do interstitial rotator cuff tears heal on their own or is surgery needed?

[Tommy Gunn]

I got an MRI taken because of shoulder pain when I do certain motions and it said that I have an interstitial tear of the supraspinatus and infraspinatus at the musculo-tendinous junction. It said that the tendons are intact and there is no full thickness tear of any of the rotator cuff tendons.

So my question is...do interstitial rotator cuff tears heal on their own or is surgery needed? If surgery is not needed would PT help (ultrasound, massage, heat, ice, strengthening, etc.)? Or is surgery the only way this will heal?

Will this be a permanent injury and the interstitial rotator cuff tears will NEVER heal?

I have had this pain for about 6 weeks now. My doctor won't be able to go over the results with me until he gets back from vacation.

[Dagron]

I had the same tear, 4 or 5 years ago. When it happened, I thought it was a stinger, so I kept playing for a few weeks, every other tackle I would get this knifing pain, burning/tingling and then numbness... turns out it was of course the rotator and I damned near ripped the thing off the bone. Anyway, I never had surgery, I simply did external rotations for reps, then over the weeks as the knifing pain subsided, slowly added weight to it (1/2 lbs. DB, 1 lbs. DB, then 2.5, 5, 7.5) it took nearly 6 months, but I have no pain and a pair of strong rotator cuffs now, and because I never had surgery I have a full range of motion.

The only supplements I was taking was MSM, Glucosamine, Bromelain and aspirin. From what I now know, Cissuss and possibly IGF-1 would help significantly as well, but as I said I did fine with just the basics. Bottom line, YES you can rehab it just fine, just be very careful when doing your rotations that you don't push it too hard too fast.

[Tommy Gunn]

I had the same tear, 4 or 5 years ago. When it happened, I thought it was a stinger, so I kept playing for a few weeks, every other tackle I would get this knifing pain, burning/tingling and then numbness... turns out it was of course the rotator and I damned near ripped the thing off the bone. Anyway, I never had surgery, I simply did external rotations for reps, then over the weeks as the knifing pain subsided, slowly added weight to it (1/2 lbs. DB, 1 lbs. DB, then 2.5, 5, 7.5) it took nearly 6 months, but I have no pain and a pair of strong rotator cuffs now, and because I never had surgery I have a full range of motion.

The only supplements I was taking was MSM, Glucosamine, Bromelain and aspirin. From what I now know, Cissuss and possibly IGF-1 would help significantly as well, but as I said I did fine with just the basics. Bottom line, YES you can rehab it just fine, just be very careful when doing your rotations that you don't push it too hard too fast.

I appreciate the response but I think you had a different injury than me. I do not have a partial tendon tear. My tendon is fully intact. I have an interstitial tear.

[MuscleScience]

They can but they take a really really long time to heal, and are easy to re-injure.

[MuscleScience]

I had the same thing in my supraspinatus tendon and tried to avoid surgery. I was playing baseball so I eventually had it worked on.

[Tommy Gunn]

I had the same thing in my supraspinatus tendon and tried to avoid surgery. I was playing baseball so I eventually had it worked on.

What kind of surgery did they do on it?

[MuscleScience]

I had other problems to that they found so I had the whole thing worked on. The tendon one was the one that manifested the most pain thought.

[Tommy Gunn]

I also have a posterior labrum tear from the 8 to 11 o clock position. My doc said it's a coincidence I have both and the torn labrum may or may not be causing the interstitial rotator cuff tears. He said he can repair the labrum but there's nothing he can do to repair the interstitial rotator cuff tears. He said they will just heal on their own.

2 questions:

1. Do you agree with my doc that there's not a surgical procedure that can fix my interstitial rotator cuff tears and that they will just heal on their own?

2. Do you think the torn labrum is causing my interstitial rotator cuff tears?

[MuscleScience]

I had same labral tear too. It probably will heal because your going to be immobilized from the elbow up for a month or two and will not be back to tip top shape for a year.

[Tommy Gunn]

Hey MuscleScience I appreciate your responses but could you please answer my 2 questions. I'm dying to know what you think:

1. Do you agree with my doc that there's not a surgical procedure that can fix my interstitial rotator cuff tears and that they will just heal on their own?

2. Do you think the torn labrum is causing my interstitial rotator cuff tears?

[MuscleScience]

1. I dont know

2. I dont see how it could not effect it. the labrum is the main ligament that holds the ball of the humorous in the glenoid fossa. I know from my own experiance my shoulder was so unstable that it was causing problems in other structures in my shoulder.

Hope this helps

[MuscleScience]

have you seen a sports med doc, they are usually more aggressive in their treatment.

[Tommy Gunn]

The doc I saw was a sports med doc.

[Tommy Gunn]

My doc gave me this time line if I get the surgery the second week in January:

1) Mon. 01-07-08 get surgery for a torn labrum.
2) Weds. 01-14-08 start physical therapy with my therapist. 1 WEEK POST SURGERY
3) Mon. 02-11-08 take off sling. 5 WEEKS POST SURGERY
4) Mon. 02-25-08 stop physical therapy with my therapist and start my own rotator cuff strengthening program (under the eye of my PT, I will be doing this at his facility). 7 WEEKS POST SURGERY
5) Mon. 04-07-08 start running on treadmill. 3 MONTHS POST SURGERY
6) Mon. 06-09-08 stop rotator cuff strengthening program and start light weightlifting with no restrictions. 5 MONTHS POST SURGERY
7) Mon. 07-21-08 start boxing training. 6 1/2 MONTHS POST SURGERY

So what do you think? Is it realistic?

[p4p1]

sorry to jump in here . i thought i would shear some input about my shoulder injury may be it can help you. what to decayed. well i had a moter cycle accident like 5 or 6 year ago . and mest up my shoulder. i think the doc seed it was a tear but for some reson in like 9 months i went to the gym and it felt fine so it was OK. but them i took about a year of cuz i was moving to florida. once i got back in the gym i did not stretch and was out of the gym for some Time. and went to heavy on the bench weights and felt a slight pull with some pain. so i stop. the next day i was and serious pain i could not lift my shoulder up.
i could not hit the bench i would go to the gym and i would ovoid the bench . the only thing i could do was dumb bells on a inklin thats was it only with light weights. now its Bent like 2 years and my shoulder feels relly good i can do bench but i take it easy cuz i don't want to go to much on the bench weight just in case. but i do feel like i can do much more weight becous it doesn't hurt but i don't want to push it all just take it slow. but the moral of my post is it take a long time for it to heal at lest to years and wen you do get back at it yous dumb bells until you fill it stronger. also Cissuss RX is a grate product for this injury.

[p4p1]

i would also like to add that after i stretched today. i put a hot towel on my shoulder worked grate to get your shoulder warmed up befor work out.