Toronto-Centre Naturopathic Medicine is a Toronto naturopathic clinic dedicated to providing safe and effective treatment of a wide variety of health conditions using natural therapies and the principles of naturopathic medicine.
Rotator cuff injury is well treated using naturopathic medicine. Your rotator cuff is made up of the muscles and tendons in your shoulder. These muscles and tendons connect the bone of your upper arm (humerus) with your shoulder blade and help hold the ball of your upper arm bone firmly in your shoulder socket. Rotator cuff injuries include any irritation or damage to your rotator cuff muscles or tendons and can be caused by any action that stresses these structures (e.g., trauma, poor posture, lifting or pulling, repetitive overhead arm activity). Professional healthcare should be sought out if shoulder pain is severe or lasts longer than one week, or if you are unable to use your arm.
Symptoms of rotator cuff injury
Possible symptoms of rotator cuff injury include:
- Shoulder pain
- Shoulder weakness
- Decreased shoulder range of motion
- Aggravation of pain by raising arm overhead
Rotator cuff injury treatment at Toronto-Centre Naturopathic Medicine
At Toronto-Centre Naturopathic Medicine, the goals of rotator cuff injury treatment are pain reduction, improvement of range of motion, and weakness and prevention of recurrence.
Conventional treatment for rotator cuff injury may include physical therapy or surgery, or steroid injections which may have long-term side effects. For this reason, you may choose to try natural treatment to possibly avoid use of conventional medications, or together with conventional medications in order to decrease dosages of conventional medications required to manage your rotator cuff symptoms.
Naturopathic treatment of any chronic health concern must be recognized as a process that involves identifying specific treatment goals, a thorough understanding by your naturopathic doctor of all factors affecting your health, including physical, psychological, emotional and lifestyle factors, development of a comprehensive treatment plan and execution of that plan through periodic monitoring and adjustment.
At Toronto-Centre Naturopathic Medicine a typical approach to treating rotator cuff injury is to first identify and address underlying factors in your lifestyle (e.g., poor posture) or general health (e.g., muscle imbalances). Where appropriate, a number of therapeutic options are available, to be used alone, or more often in a complementary fashion, including:
- Acupuncture
- Bowen Therapy
- SuikodoTM
- Hydrotherapy
- Exercise prescription
- Nutritional supplements
- Botanical (herbal) medicines
- Homeopathic medicines
Reference
Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. Rotator cuff injury [Online]. [cited 2009 Feb 18]; Available from: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/rotator-cuff-injury/DS00192