The next available Customer Service Representative will call you back.
Thank you for submitting a callback request. A customer service representative will contact you shortly.
Rotator Cuff Information
What is the Rotator Cuff?
What Causes Rotator Cuff Injuries?
How Long Does a Rotator Cuff Injury Last?
How do I Heal a Rotator Cuff Injury?
What Can I do Now?
Answers to Questions about Rotator Cuff Injury
This page provides an introduction to causes and understanding the basics of Rotator Cuff Pain. You may also click the links below to view one of the following topics:
The Rotator Cuff is part of the shoulder.
The shoulder is a complex web of muscles, cartilage, and ligaments with a large range of motion.
Because of its range, the shoulder can be put under stresses that other muscle groups do not encounter.
This can cause injury.
Each Rotator Cuff injury is different and symptoms will vary from one person to the next.
We use our shoulders in almost everything we do.
And once you have an injury it is very easy to keep reinjuring it.
You might be frustrated by the process of healing, but you can heal.
The good news is that your body is trying to heal your Rotator Cuff right now.
The challenge is that you are using it constantly and that constant use comes with frequent re-injury.
Understanding how to avoid re-injury will be key to healing your Rotator Cuff once and for all.
What is the Rotator Cuff?
If you search online, the internet will tell you the Rotator Cuff is made up of 4 muscles:
The Supraspinatus, the Infraspinatus, the Teres Minor, and the Subscapularis.
You do not need to remember those muscle names.
Typically, if one of those first four muscles is injured or torn your doctor will diagnose it by the name of the muscle - whatever it is in your case.
It is unlikely that with injury to the first four muscles often cited online, that the doctor will just call it a 'Rotator Cuff Injury', he/she will call it a specific muscle injury.
If your doctor's diagnosis is a 'Torn Rotator Cuff', then usually they are talking about another set of muscles in the Rotator Cuff.
The rotator cuff also includes the Deltoid Muscles.
The deltoid group are complex, and when they are injured, it often impacts more than one, so the doctor just calls it a 'Rotator Cuff Tear' rather than referring to the muscle names.
Generally, all the muscles of the rotator cuff hold the shoulder together and move the shoulder and arm through multiple planes and ranges of motion.
If you were told that you have a Rotator Cuff injury, that means that either they could not precisely identify which muscle is injured or there might be multiple tissues injured.
Usually, the injury is in the deltoid muscles which surround the top of the arm and extend down the arm.
Any movement you make with your arm is partly controlled by these muscles.
Your injury is unique, it is not necessarily the same as another person with a rotator cuff injury.
You might have pain in the front, side or back of the shoulder.
The pain can also radiate from the shoulder into the chest or back.
You know where the main injury is though, it's that spot that suddenly hurts so sharply when you move the wrong way.
That's exactly the spot.
The rest of the pain is called 'referred pain' and, even if it extends outside that key spot, that spot is the root cause of all the pain.
Protect that spot, treat that spot, and your rotator cuff will heal.
Symptoms of Rotator Cuff Injury
The Rotator Cuff is a complex structure.
You can experience pain with Rotator Cuff tear in a variety of ways.
Most pain will be felt in the arm portion of the shoulder area in the front, back or side.
Some people also feel the referred pain in the bicep and top of the shoulder.
Others feel referred pain in the bicep in the side of the shoulder.
Others will feel a dull ache inside the shoulder that gets worse in the evening.
Pretty much everyone with a Rotator Cuff Tear will have a shooting twinge of pain at the key point of injury that happens when they move the wrong way.
Do not feel alone if your symptoms don't seem to match what you hear.
You are having your own experience of injury and healing.
The important part is cutting through the noise and focusing on the right steps to healing.
Of all the symptoms, the shooting pain or twinge of pain that you get when you move certain ways is the most important one to pay attention to and avoid.
Those moments of sudden and extreme pain are a sign that you are reinjuring yourself.
It is also the number one thing slowing your healing down.
It can be difficult to find a comfortable position to rest the arm that does not hurt the shoulder.
Lying down at night can be quite challenging and you may need to experiment with different positions and using pillows to prop your arm.
It may take some time to find a good sleeping position.
But it is worth taking the time.
Some people must stack pillows and prop themselves up or only lay on one side.
Keep trying until you find the right position for you.
Once you find it you may have to change it up a little over time as your healing progresses.
You will notice that you have a serious shooting pain or twinge when you move the wrong way.
Pay attention to what causes this sensation.
You are going to want to avoid this motion as much as possible.
Ideally, once you figure out what movement causes that shooting pain, you will hopefully be able to avoid that movement altogether during the healing process.
For sure though, that pain is a warning from your body that you are causing reinjury.
It's very important to listen to your body and avoid this.
Lifting something heavy, swinging your arm, throwing something, or moving your arm behind your back...
The motion that hurts you is entirely unique to your injury.
What hurts you may be very different from what hurts someone else with a torn rotator cuff because every injury is unique.
It should go without saying that whichever movement causes you pain, that is a big no-no with your Rotator Cuff Injury.
It can even be the smaller movements or specific directions of movement that cause shooting pain.
It does not have to be you moving a heavy load or straining your arm, it can be as simple as just moving the wrong way that does it.
What Causes Rotator Cuff Injury
It usually happens from a specific event where the small muscles of the shoulder contract suddenly and forcefully.
This is very often from a fall or a sudden and strenuous movement.
Perhaps you slipped and reached out to stop your fall with your arm.
Maybe your dog on a leash took a big jump and caught you off guard.
Maybe it was when you were doing a sport.
Typically, most people remember the moment they did the damage when it comes to rotator cuff tears.
It could be tendon.
It could be muscle.
It could be a ligament.
But usually, it is an overstretch or tear of the muscle or tendon in the deltoid.
There are many things that lead up to Rotator Cuff Injuries.
In rare cases it can happen from overuse injuries.
Overuse injuries usually occur from people doing repetitive overhead tasks.
Painters, for example, could experience this.
But it does not really matter.
Healing from where you are is all that matters.
This is your healing journey.
Ultimately what matters is the steps you take to protect yourself from reinjury, manage pain the right way, and stimulate healing.
The Most Important Factor in Healing Your Rotator Cuff
Your body is actively working to heal your Rotator Cuff as you read this.
Without going into all the biology, your cells are diligently gathering building blocks to make new muscle, tendon and ligaments, assembling new tissues, and so on.
It is quickly going about this at the cellular level with no time to waste.
You do not have to think about it or do anything special.
Your body has a job to do and it is doing it.
But...
What if you get up to get a glass of water?
Maybe you reach too high for that glass and you get that shooting twinge of pain.
You know it instantly.
It might be a different motion like reaching to the side or something.
But you know instantly when you have moved in a way you should not move.
Here is the thing:
It's not just a moment of pain.
When you feel those sudden twinges, you literally just wrecked all that work your cells were doing.
You have reinjured your damaged tissue.
You have undone some of the work your body just did for you while you were being good all day.
So, the more you can avoid these motions, the more you work with your body and not against it.
The more you work with your body the faster you heal.
This is the number one factor in healing from this injury.
Avoid those motions.
Since that twinging Rotator Cuff pain is you undoing all the work you have done, it is important to figure out how you can avoid those types of situations where you cause that pain.
How many times a day do you do the same things that cause that shooting twinge of pain in your shoulder and arm that let you know you hurt your shoulder again?
Let's say your do this 6 times a day.
Even if you are only successful in avoiding 3 of those you have cut your setbacks by half!
It helps to plan to avoid those situations where you might hurt yourself again.
Think back about all the things you have done that cause you to create that shooting reinjury pain.
What can you do to keep that from happening?
Grab the seatbelt and pull it out with your other arm?
Move your coffee cup down to a lower shelf?
Get help from others with certain tasks?
Even putting on a shirt can be the thing that sets off the shooting pain.
If you think about it a bit ahead of time, you can remember "problem actions" and anticipate them in the future.
One thing that helps a lot is putting your arm in a sling.
Not because it's broken, but because it makes you think before using it.
You will be more likely to use your other arm.
Thinking about your workplace is important too.
Do you need to adjust your desk or change where you reach for certain items?
The more you adjust in your life to reduce reinjury the faster you can heal and get back to normal.
Sleep is Another Big Area to Consider.
There are two things to consider about your sleep.
One is just getting the right position where your shoulder does not hurt so you can get to sleep.
The other thing making is sure you are not causing reinjury during the night while sleeping.
Some people rest their head on their arm while sleeping.
This may not be a good idea for your injury.
If you are a side sleeper, then for most people, you should sleep on the side that is not injured.
But some people report the opposite works best for them.
You will want to experiment with sleep positions to find one that is comfortable and prevents you from moving in a way that causes reinjury.
Some people have to prop themselves up on pillows or in a recliner to sleep for a while.
Others use some pillows behind their back to keep from rolling over during the night.
Some people will sleep on their side and rest their arm on a pillow at just the right height.
With a little experimentation you can quickly find what works best for you.
Remember, as you heal you might find that you must make some adjustments to what has been working for you.
Do not be afraid to change it up as you progress.
Exercise for Rotator Cuff Injuries
There is a lot of advice out there about exercises for the Rotator Cuff.
But these exercises do not respect your specific injury.
Be very careful.
Exercise may place stress directly on the damaged tissues and that's a bad thing.
Be careful of generic recommendations for exercises for Rotator Cuff tears.
Remember, your injury is unique, so you can't do some things that others can.
Generally, you just want to put off exercise until you are far along the healing process.
Add exercise once the pain is all gone.
Add exercise once you don't feel those shooting pains from any motion.
Add exercise once the injury is well along the healing process and very stable, not before.
You need to be limiting the range of motion of your shoulder and arm and not put those muscles under load.
Avoiding that shooting, sharp, shooting pain that signals you are reinjuring your Rotator Cuff.
You should not be putting your damaged tissues under any intense stretch or load.
This means no gym.
No heavy lifting.
No swinging your arm.
Yes, you can search the internet for "exercises for torn Rotator Cuff" and find some hits, but that does not mean those fit your situation.
That is for after healing to help prevent a future Rotator Cuff Syndrome.
Many people or websites will recommend all kinds of things including exercises.
Only do exercise after the injury is stable enough to do it without ever having pain.
Stretching for Rotator Cuff Injuries
Doing stretches for torn Rotator Cuff is another great way to make your shoulder worse.
You are taking muscle fibers which are torn and putting them under direct stretch.
You could have injury of the ligaments or tendons that are actively healing, and stretching them will interrupt that healing process.
Right now, you need to be limiting the range of motion of your shoulder and arm.
Again, avoiding that pain that signals you are reinjuring your Rotator Cuff is the most important thing you can do.
Doing exercise or stretches for torn Rotator Cuff is the opposite of taking steps to protect yourself.
You should not be putting your damaged tissues under any intense stretch or load.
No bendy poses.
No upper body yoga.
We are trying to heal.
To do that you need to give those torn and damaged fibers time.
You will hear people online recommending stretching.
Only do stretches after the injury is stable enough to do it without ever having pain.
It can take 3 months or longer to heal a minor or partial tear.
It can take up to a year or longer to heal a severe tear.
A complete tear requires surgery to reconnect the tissue and then you are facing 4 to 6 months of critical recovery.
Since reinjury is the number one factor slowing you down, having an accurate time frame for healing in mind is important.
If you are expecting to be healed in a week or two, you might go out and do things that will reinjure your Rotator Cuff.
But if you know it can take a few months to heal, you know that even though your pain has reduced, it does not mean you are healed at 3 weeks.
Ultimately the pain is your guide.
Be very cautious until the shooting pains no longer occur.
At that point your injury is about 1/3 healed, so please be careful even after the pain stops and keep up with your proactive healing treatments like BFST® if you have access to them.
What Not to do When You Have a Rotator Cuff Injury
The internet is full of bad advice about treating your shoulder.
Here's a short list though:
Light repetitive activity is neither a cause nor a cure.
Stretching can surely cause reinjury.
Pain killers probably make it worse.
Driving through the pain will just make it worse.
What You Should do When You Have a Rotator Cuff Injury?
For a little while - not forever - it is really helpful to give your shoulder a rest.
In many cases, resting your shoulder for a few weeks will give it time to heal to a point that your body feels it is ahead of the healing / reinjury cycle.
It's important to realize that once the pain and swelling go away, your underlying condition may not be completely gone, so take it easy and go back to regular life gradually.
There are things you can do to speed up your recovery.
If you want to be more proactive about healing the problem, you can use proactive treatments that accelerate healing and prevent reinjury.
For proactive treatments, click here to visit the Recommended Treatments page.
Rest & Use Conservative Treatments
If you want your Rotator Cuff Injury to go away as quickly as possible, you need to rest the affected shoulder.
It is a battle of steps forward and backward in the healing and reinjury cycle.
You want to make the steps forward as often and big as possible while making the steps backward as small and infrequent as possible.
The more effectively you achieve this, the faster your shoulder will heal.
Avoid any physical activities that could cause further injury to your shoulder.
Do your best to avoid the activity that caused the original injury.
Also avoid any activity that causes that shooting pain in your shoulder or arm.
Consider using a sling to keep the strain off your injured shoulder and avoid re-injury.
A sling doesn't mean don't move though, that's just to prevent you from doing strenuous activity or perhaps change a bad habit.
You can do regular ColdCure® treatments to control the pain and swelling.
The compression during each treatment helps soothe the aggravated tissue in the joint and stabilize the tissue following reinjury.
Focus on accelerating the healing of the tissue with regular BFST® treatments.
Your body wants to heal, so BFST® will significantly help it do that to the best of its ability.
BFST® makes the healing steps forward as big as they can possibly be.
Medical grade tape is an excellent way to prevent reinjury and reduce the amount of damage you do when you move the wrong way.
Tape in the morning and wear it all day, every day, so that you are always protected when you move the wrong way.
Proper medical taping can really reduce the amount and size of the backward steps during the healing process.
This combination will work to heal your torn Rotator Cuff as quickly as possible.
Don't do any stretching or strengthening exercises until you no longer feel pain at any time.
It is very easy to cause reinjury with stretching or strength exercises.
There will come a time for exercise, but that's after the pain is gone.
Remember, healing Rotator Cuff Injury is a slow process, it may take a few months to get past it completely, but that's much better than ignoring it and suffering for a few years.
Continue doing BFST® treatments long after the pain disappears to maintain the healing you've done.
Do a ColdCure® treatment if you experience any flare-ups of pain and swelling and after any significant activity.
Surgery Should Be a Last Resort
In most cases, you don't have to undergo surgery in order to get rid of your issue.
Often, you can get rid of your Rotator Cuff Injury with conservative treatments.
Only in rare cases of significant damage such as a complete tear would a person require surgery.
If it's not a complete tear, it is often possible to avoid surgery.
But if it is a complete tear, then surgery needs to happen quickly.
Before any surgery, always get a second opinion.
Surgeons are always quite confident, because surgery is what they do.
That doesn't mean that's the right choice for you.
You want to do everything you can to let your shoulder heal on its own.
If surgery is your only option, make sure your post-surgery recovery goes as smoothly as possible by using BFST® and ColdCure®.
Use a ColdCure® Wrap to reduce the inflammation and relieve the pain for the first few days following surgery.
Once the inflammation has gone down, promote blood flow to the injured area using a BFST® Wrap.
This will improve your circulation and help you heal faster.
Painkillers mask the pain, causing you to continue to stress and injure your shoulder.
This will only make your condition worse.
It is understandable that people need relief from the pain, so if you have to take painkillers, restrict them to times when you are at rest.
You can use painkillers to help you sleep.
Using them when you are active is a recipe for permanent damage.
Your choice of pain killers is important.
You can give us a call to discuss which ones are best.
When it comes to Rotator Cuff pain relief The ColdCure® Top Shoulder Wrap is designed to relieve the pain.
This safe and effective pain reliever is also great at bringing down swelling and inflammation.
The ColdCure® Wrap is incredibly soothing and provides support and protection for your shoulder.
The painkilling element is incredibly powerful and it works instantly - there's no 20 minute wait like with pills.
A Torn Rotator Cuff can be extremely painful and debilitating.
Painkillers such as ASA or acetaminophen are often used to treat the pain but these drugs do nothing to treat the actual condition.
In fact, painkillers are known blood thinners and make the bleeding worse for fresh tissue injuries.
Cortisone injections are used in extreme cases but these too are intended to only address the pain.
They do not promote healing of the injury itself and they put you at a very high risk of further injury.
You don't have to wait for endless months in pain.
You can heal much more quickly with the right treatment.
For Rotator Cuff Tear, blood flow is the most critical element in rapid recovery.
Blood flow feeds the damaged muscle fibers and ligaments in the shoulder.
Blood Flow Stimulation Therapy™ (BFST®) gives your shoulder the blood flow it needs to heal quickly and completely.
Don't fight your body, work with it to heal as quickly as possible.
BFST® brings extra oxygen and nutrient-rich blood to the injured area - a requirement for the body to heal itself.
Unfortunately, an injured shoulder at rest often has restricted blood flow, which extends your healing time.
With a King Brand®BFST® shoulder Wrap, blood flow can be stimulated in the area of injury while you are at rest.
With improved blood flow and without strenuous physical activity and the risk of re-injury, you can recover from your Rotator Cuff Injury rapid rate.
I want to thank you for the wonderful job that the King Brand shoulder wrap was doing for me - now, I don't have any pain, and I don't have to go to surgery.
After five months, now I'm going to the gym and lifting weights, and before I started, I couldn't even comb my hair.
That's pretty amazing.
I loaned it to a friend of mine who has a problem with his shoulder, and he's using it.
I think it's helping him too.
Thank you for your service, and for your wonderful product.
Dan from CaliforniaBFST shoulderJan 25, 2024
I am a past customer of your products and I have to say that I LOVE what the shoulder wrap did for me!
I had a torn rotator cuff and didn't want surgery, and the product that I chose helped me to heal!!
I have shared this information with several people and they are singing your praises!
Susan from AlabamaColdCure Top Shoulder-PreCut Tape-BFST Top ShoulderFeb 8th, 2024
It was unbelievable how quickly I healed. My doctor was amazed
Michelle from New HampshireBFST Top Shoulder - ColdCure Top Shoulder - Wide Roll TapeDec 9th, 2023
I have the shoulder wrap, which is wonderful.
This product - it is the best thing I've ever used.
I mean it!
I went five years thinking I was going to have to have surgery.
I went to four doctors and they told me I'd have to have surgery and live with the pain, and with this the pain is gone.
I've used it for six months every day three times a day, and it's like I never had the problem.
My sister told me about it.
She had plantar fasciitis, and she doesn't have it any more.
I can't rave about it enough - I tell everyone who has a problem, look it up, it really works.
100% relief.
It cured me.
It's amazing.
Mary from South CarolinaBFST Top ShoulderDec 8th, 2022
King Brand® soft tissue rehabilitation medical products are the #1 choice of top Athletic Therapists and Medical Practitioners worldwide.
We provide guaranteed results and customer satisfaction.
Like all King Brand® products, there simply isn't a better performing option.
All King Brand® products come with a 100% satisfaction guarantee.
Try our products and if you're not completely impressed, you can send them back for a full refund.
We know you will love them though because hundreds of thousands of people already use them and rave about the results.
The King Brand® products shown are FDA Registered medical devices.
That is not all.
They have also been registered with Health Canada which means they received twice as much review.
FDA and Health Canada Registration does not mean that we filled out a form to become Registered.
Our medical claims are significant, and because of these claims the various agencies have looked deep into our technology.
We have submitted to FDA our proprietary research and technology to back up the claims that we make.
King Brand has participated in far more than a basic registration process.
All the agencies have come to our facilities for week-long inspections to ensure that the end user is always receiving the safest, most effective medical devices we can offer.
With two different countries of regulators this means our products have twice the oversight, ensuring exceptional quality and performance.
It is not required by the government agencies, but we are also ISO-13485 compliant and registered.
This enforces medical standards that are established by the International Standards Organization for global manufacturers of medical devices.
This means more on-site, week long, audits every year, ensuring our quality and products meet strict international standards.
Beyond what is required by any regulator, we use only the safest materials in our products.
ISO-10993 regulation ensures that our products are made from higher quality materials than most baby products, including diapers.
This is the highest bio-compatibility safety standard in the world.
This is the highest hospital grade - think Intensive Care and Operating Rooms.
Our materials go through ISO-10993 testing to ensure they are safe for you.
No consumer products are produced to this high standard.
King Brand products are, in fact, hospital grade through and through.
IEC-60601 is the International Standard for Medical Device safety from an electrical standpoint.
In spite of the BFST® being an electrical device, BFST® can be used in hospital emergency rooms and operating rooms without affecting other equipment.
You can use any medical device with a BFST® and neither device will know the other one is there.
This is a very tough standard to meet, but we do it and you benefit.
King Brand products meet over 20 different safety and quality standards that are not required even for medical devices and FDA registration.
If we think there is anything that can be done to make our products safer and more effective, we have done it.
That is the approach to everything we do and that is why our company and products are so highly regarded.
It is not required by the government agencies, but we are also ISO-13485 compliant and registered.
This enforces medical standards that are established by the International Standards Organization for global manufacturers of medical devices.
This means more on-site, week long, audits every year, ensuring our quality and products meet strict international standards.
Beyond what is required by any regulator, we use only the safest materials in our products.
ISO-10993 regulation ensures that our products are made from higher quality materials than most baby products, including diapers.
This is the highest bio-compatibility safety standard in the world.
This is the highest hospital grade - think Intensive Care and Operating Rooms.
Our materials go through ISO-10993 testing to ensure they are safe for you.
No consumer products are produced to this high standard.
King Brand products are, in fact, hospital grade through and through.
IEC-60601 is the International Standard for Medical Device safety from an electrical standpoint.
In spite of the BFST® being an electrical device, BFST® can be used in hospital emergency rooms and operating rooms without affecting other equipment.
You can use any medical device with a BFST® and neither device will know the other one is there.
This is a very tough standard to meet, but we do it and you benefit.