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Dr. Rockwood, Jr. explains if women recover well from rotator cuff injuries.
Dr. Rockwood, Jr.:
I would say the majority of them do very well because it’s most unusual for women to have a ruptured tendon of the rotator cuff. Now if a young patient, let’s say somebody’s out horseback riding, and they get thrown off the horse and they grab ahold of the limb, and they jerk the shoulder and then they have trouble raising their arm, and they had pain and they can’t sleep.
Well, you know when you examine that patient and they give you that history, and you do an examination you see there’s weakness of certain muscles. You say well, you know, probably you have injured your rotator cuff. It’s very, very unlikely that happened. Most of the time it’s a sprain or a strain, but we’ll go ahead and do a study and if a young patient, and by young, I would say, ordinarily let me say this, that over the age of 60 is the ones I usually see are sprains and strains and overused, and they are going to do well.
When they get into the 40s and 50s, even 30s, 40s and 50s, and they give you a history of a violent injury and they can’t do anything, then you have to get your studies done with, with radiograms, and if that tendon is indeed torn apart, then it will need surgery.
About Dr. Rockwood, Jr., M.D.:
Charles A. Rockwood, Jr., M.D., continues to perform complex shoulder surgery in his private practice, and as a consultant, lends his expertise to other orthopaedic surgeons throughout the country. Dr. Rockwood has authored numerous journal articles and audiovisual presentations and has served as editor of several textbooks.
Visit Dr. Rockwood, Jr. at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio