Health and Fitness Facts

Archive for the ‘Surgeon’ Category

First let’s find out what shoulder tendonitis or rotator cuff tendonitis is? There are several other names that this can be called. Some are known as tennis shoulder, pitcher’s shoulder and even a shoulder impingement. These are all common names for a very similar problem.

So what is it? Shoulder tendonitis or rotator cuff tendonitis is the inflammation and can be an irritation and swelling of the tendons of the shoulder. The shoulder joint is a ball and socket type joint. The top part of the arm bone (humerus) forms a joint with the shoulder blade (scapula). The rotator cuff holds the head of the humerus into the scapula.

What is the most common cause of rotator cuff tendonitis?

A lot of the time the problem occurs with sports. Inflammation of the tendons of the shoulder muscles occur in sports using the arm being moved over the head repeatedly. Such sports are tennis, baseball (pitching mainly) swimming and even lifting weights over the head. What happens sometimes is you get the inflammation or injury and can cause the tendons of the rotator cuff to tear. Sometimes this occurs in people over 40 years of age.

If you are looking for shoulder tendonitis treatment options, then keep reading. This article is for you. Shoulder tendonitis is a painful condition usually associated with a rotator cuff injury. In this article will demonstrate a few of the steps necessary to to treat tendonitis in the shoulder and then show you how you can learn how heal the pain and keep it from coming back.

There are two areas where shoulder tendonitis can develop. One is up in the rotator cuff surrounding the shoulder joint. If you think you may have tendonitis, be sure to stop whatever you are doing that is aggravating the injury and consult with a doctor. Only a doctor can tell you if it is tendonitis or something more severe such as a torn muscle.

If it does turn out to be tedonitis of the rotator cuff, then there are a number of shoulder tendonitis treatment options that may help you.

Treatment Option #1: RICE

The first treatment option is the RICE method. Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation. This is a common first aid technique but is especially useful for rotator cuff injuries. Rest an immobilize your shoulder with the aid of a sling. Apply ice to calm the irritation and slow the swelling. Compression and elevation also help to reduce the blood flow and thus relieve pain.

Treatment Option #2: Anti-Inflammatory Drugs

Tendonitis, quite simply is the medical description of an inflamed tendon. Thus, anti-inflammatory drugs can offer quick relief. Over-the-counter drugs such as Advil often provide temporary relief. They reduce the pain and the inflammation in the affected area. In more severe cases, your doctor may recommend a Cortisone injection directly into the inflamed area. Cortisone is a powerful anti-inflammatory medication but like with other drugs, its affects are only temporary.

Treatment Option #3: Surgery

In extreme cases, your doctor may recommend surgery. There are a number of different surgical approaches to treating rotator cuff injuries. Unless you have severely torn a muscle or tendon, this is usually not required.

Shoulder Tendonitis Symptoms

Pain when the arm is moved Arm is weak when rising over your head Pain in shoulder at night, especially when lying on the affected shoulder. Pain in arm when performing overhead activities

How to find out if you have shoulder tendonitis

X-ray’s or MRI. X-rays can show a burn spur. The MRI can show the inflammation in the rotator cuff. There could also be a tear in the rotator cuff and the MRI will show this.

Shoulder Tendonitis Surgery

Before shoulder tendonitis surgery, you should try physical therapy to strengthen the muscles of the rotator cuff. If the pain is too great to start physical therapy a steroid injection (cortisone) may reduce pain and inflammation enough to start effective therapy.

The adjustable gastric banding surgeries, including Lap Band surgery, is a form of restrictive weight loss surgery designed for obesity patients with a body mass index (BMI) of 40 or greater or between 35 and 40 for those who have conditions that are known to improve with weight loss. The Swedish adjustable gastric band differs greatly from the Lap-Band because it wasn’t designed for use with keyhole laparoscopic surgery. An American company, INAMED Health, designed the BioEnterics LAP-BAND Adjustable Gastric Banding System, which was originally introduced in Europe in 1993.

If someone has a dependency on alcohol or drugs, they won’t be eligible for adjustable band surgery. And mentally disabled or emotionally unstable people won’t be considered for lap band surgery. However failure of dietary or weight-loss drug therapy for more than one year can make one eligible for the adjustable gastric band procedure.

Inflammatory diseases of the gastrointestinal tract like ulcers, esophagitis or Crohn’s disease do not make someone a good candidate for lap band surgery. In general, gastric banding, including the Lap Band procedure and weight loss system, is indicated for people whose Body Mass Index is above 40, or those who are 100 pounds (45 kg) or more over their estimated ideal weight according to the 1983 Metropolitan Life Insurance Tables or those between 30 to 40 with co-morbidities which may improve with weight loss (those are: blood pressure, diabetes, sleep apnea, and arthritis).

During surgery the surgeon uses a specialized needle to avoid damage to the port membrane. Compared to other weight loss surgeries gastric dumping syndrome problems do not occur in lap band surgeries because no intestines are removed or re-routed. When fluid is introduced into the stomach the lap band expands, placing pressure around the outside of the stomach and this decreases the size of the passage in the stomach and restricts the movement of food.

Arthros means joint in Greek. The arthroscope is an instrument used by orthopaedic surgeons to look into joints. It is about 8- 10 inches long and is as thick as a pencil. There is a fibre optic lens system which transmits light from a cold light source outside and relays the interior image to a medical television monitor. In other words the arthroscope serves as a camera device to look into structures inside a joint. It is possible to diagnose pathological conditions not seen on X rays and sometimes even on MRI scans.

Who needs arthroscopy?

a) Rotator cuff tears, partial and complete
b) Recurrent dislocations
c) Frozen shoulder and adhesive capsulitis
d) Calcium deposition
e) Loose bodies
f) Osteoarthritis

Advantages

As there are no formal large incisions, post operative pain is minimal. Since muscles and tissues are not removed from their origins on bone, again the amount of inflammation is minimal. Recovery can be faster as it is not necessary for muscles to heal back. Cosmetically the procedure is very satisfying. There are no mental scars of open surgery. Return to sport or work is faster, hospital stays are shorter and hence bills are smaller. However arthroscopic equipment is expensive to hire or possess and the surgeon has to recover the cost of dispensable items like shavers, suture anchors. This is offset by enormous patient satisfaction.

Arthroscopic surgery by its simple nature provides an opportunity to the orthopaedic surgeon to examine the interior of a joint. After Knee arthroscopy, the shoulder is the joint which is suited for arthroscopic surgery. Other joints are the ankle, wrist and elbow. Indians and Asians in the Gulf get only short spells of leave to spend with their near and dear ones. They would benefit from undergoing Arthroscopic shoulder surgery for shoulder pain as the recovery is shorter.