Shoulder is the most flexible part of the body as it is responsible for the rotatory function of your arm. Any defect in it is resulted in shoulder surgeon treating the shoulder. There are some questions that pop up into the patient’s mind that they must ask to the orthopedic surgeon before having their shoulder operated.

How to diagnose a shoulder injury?

If you feel discomfort in movement of your shoulders, chances are that you have either rotator cuff injury or torn tendons. First and foremost is the detection and diagnosis of the injury to see what the problem really is. During the inspection, the shoulder surgeon will test the muscles around your shoulder and will rotate your arms around and ask you where it hurts the most. They may also need an x-ray, ultrasound or MRI scan to assess further as to what the actual problem is. The Magnetic Resonance Scanning (MRI) is the most efficient procedure because of the quality of the images of the structure in your shoulder.

What are the treatments?

The gravity of your injury will determine the shoulder injury treatment method the orthopedic surgeon will use. A small rotator cuff injury can be healed by an ice pack and some physiotherapy exercises but if the injuries are more severe, these methods will not help. There are some other treatments the doctors may use:

Injections: The steroid shots can help you when the pain is too much, and you are having trouble doing regular house work. These injections are temporary and will only remove the pain for a short amount of time. if the pain persists, you should get your shoulder treated properly.

Physiotherapy: Another method of treating a bad and rusty shoulder is through exercise. Physiotherapists will have you do various exercises that will restore the strength and flexibility back to the shoulder’s rotator cuff. This is probably the first thing an orthopedic surgeon would suggest you.

Surgery: When all else fails, the surgery is the last resort. There are multiple types of surgeries that can be done on a shoulder. It depends on how bad the condition of your shoulder is. Tendon repairs, open tendon repairs, tendon transfer and shoulder replacement to name just a few.

What are the types of injuries?

You can injure your shoulder in many ways:

Fracture: A fracture occurs when you hit a certain area of your bone and it cracks. Shoulder fractures include a fracture to the collarbone and humerus which is a bone very close to the shoulder. Fractures are usually detected by excruciating pain and bruises to that part.

Dislocation: When your shoulder is pulled to far that it separates from the socket. It is detected by the numbness or weakness or the swelling in your shoulder.

Separation: A hard blow can cause your collarbone and shoulder blade to come together. The collarbone gets popped out of its place and creates a bump on the shoulder.

What is the risk of avoiding surgery and sticking to house therapies?

You shouldn’t risk any injuries with not having surgeries for whatever reason might be. If the injury is severe, prolonging it will make it worse than it was initially. Prolonging shoulder injuries can have the risk to long term results. For example, if you keep having steroid shots, your pain will be temporarily be disabled but it the source of that pain wouldn’t be healed. If the rotator cuff is torn, there is low risk of tearing it completely, but it compromises the long-term outcome if conservative treatment is used. People under 30 with a torn tendon or dislocated shoulder must have it treated before it can affect them in the future.

What are recovery procedures and how much time does it take?

Recovery after surgery for shoulder injury are often lengthy provided you take care of your shoulders as described by the shoulder surgeon. Medications will be prescribed to you by doctors for the pain relief. You can have your shoulder to move in six week time. This is enough time for rotator cuff to heal so you can start rehabilitation through physio therapy.

Shoulder injuries are not to be taken lightly if you feel slight discomfort in moving your shoulder around, go see a shoulder surgeon Mclean, VA as soon as possible.