Yes is the right answer but not in the same order. It also depends on how much damage you have done to it. Most cuff tears will respond to rest and exercise but any serious partial tear or full thickness tear may require corrective before any therapy will help. The important thing with any type of torn rotator cuff treatment is to rest and let the tear begin to repair itself. Carrying on through rotator cuff pain is only going to leave you booking corrective surgery as you will do more damage to the tendons, so rest is the first thing that you need to do.
Along with rest, you need to reduce the inflammation before you can think about beginning any type of exercise. The rotator cuff is a group of muscles that help to keep the shoulder stable by pulling the head of the upper arm bone into the socket of the shoulder. They are small but vital muscles that surround the shoulder joint forming a cuff of muscle that supports it, in doing so they run over and sometimes under the shoulder bones.
Any inflammation to these tendons can cause pain as the inflamed tendon can catch or impinge on bone. A classic example of this is the supraspinatus muscle which runs under the collar bone and the acromion of the shoulder blade. When this muscle swells it can catch on the channel of bone and start to wear or fray. Worst case scenario is that you could end up with a snapped tendon that would leave you needing corrective surgery.
So let the muscles rest. This means avoiding any movement that is causes pain. If your work includes a lot of overhead movement you may need to modify the way in which you work. If you spend the day sitting at a desk, you might need to rearrange your desk to avoid stretching or reaching movements with the damaged shoulder. It might even be necessary to take a few days off to rest the shoulder properly.
At the same times start to reduce the inflammation. You could do this by using non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as Ibuprofen and also by using ice packs on the damaged muscle to help to bring down the swelling. If symptoms persist you may need to have a steroid injection into the muscle to combat the inflammation. Your doctor should be able to do this for you.
Once the muscle has begun to settle down you can start simple exercises aimed at strengthening your rotator cuff muscles. Don't go rushing to the gym thinking that any type of exercise will do the trick. It won't. Pushing weights before the muscle has healed properly is likely to cause more damage.
Rotator cuff exercises use little or no weight when recovering from an injury. They will start with gentle exercises that should not cause any pain. If you feel pain or discomfort when exercising stop straight away as this is an indication of further damage being done. It may be that you started exercising too soon.
And don't forget, when your shoulder is fixed and back to its full pain free movement, don't stop the exercises. Rotator cuff injuries are very common but a lot of them can be avoided by keeping the rotator cuff muscles healthy so just take five or ten minutes a day to keep them in shape.
Keywords: torn rotator cuff treatment,rotator cuff treatment
