Partial Tear of Rotator Cuff

V

Vibrantfish

New member
I suffered a partial tear of my right rotator cuff while playing tennis. This was diagnosed by a doctor after a review of an MRI. In any case, I underwent physical therapy for about six months using primarily a Thera-band. I ended physical therapy about eight months ago.

Somewhat recently, I purchased a new pillow for my bedroom and, for a while, my right arm (shoulder) was fine. The other day, I played three sets of tennis (about two hours) and my shoulder felt fine after that. Within the last week or two, I have noticed a clicking noise in my right shoulder. There is some pain, but I am not experiencing as much pain as when I initially sought treatment from the doctor.

I think I'm sleeping on my arm (right shoulder) at night and this is contributing to my problems. Does anyone have any experience with this? I'm thinking about going out and buying a much larger pillow (king-size) and trying to sleep on my other shoulder (although this is very difficult for me to do since I have slept on my right shoulder for my entire life). Any help that you might be able to give me would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Matt
 
Hi Matt. I have a partial tear in my left shoulder and a full tear in the right. Rotator cuff tears, partial or full, don't "click". but often times you also have osteoarthritis in the AC joint of your shoulder that contributes to the tear and can make noise. The AC joint is where your collar bone and shoulder blade meet on top of your shoulder complex. The major muscles go over the AC joint and the rotator cuff tendons go under it. So if you develop a bone spur from arthritis, it can actually cut the tendon. The bone spurs(osteophytes) can also trigger a bad case of bursitis causing some of your pain.

But I bet the click you hear is from the joint wearing away,(technical name if you want to research it is the acromioclavicular joint). Might want to back off on playing so much tennis.

gentle hugs..........Jenny
 
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