Physiotherapists in Cowbridge treat many different conditions including the issues profiled below.

Rotator Cuff Tears

The rotator cuff is the stabilising group of muscles which maintain the precise relationship between the head of the arm bone and the shoulder socket. They travel from the shoulder blade and pass towards the head of the humerus, become more tendon like as they go until they insert into the bony protuberance on the outside of the humeral head, known as the greater tuberosity. Rotator cuff dysfunction is common and can be secondary to trauma but is much more commonly due to the effects of age. .Grey hair equals cuff tear. is a surgeon.s saying when an older person presents with shoulder pain.

The rotator cuff tendons change with time and may suffer from areas of reduced blood supply due to anatomical and impingement factors, increasing the likelihood of tears developing and reducing its ability to heal. Tears can vary from small splits in one tendon to huge tears in the whole of the tendon sheet of the combined rotator cuff with complete dysfunction of the shoulder complex. Pain can be considerable apart from the inability to raise the arm against gravity and sleep can be badly affected. Rotator cuff repair can be performed for most tears but the process is painful and takes many months to rehabilitate.

Total Shoulder Replacement

Shoulder replacement is less commonly performed than replacement of the hip or knee but remains a very useful treatment for a variety of shoulder conditions. Osteoarthritis is much less common in the shoulder than in the knee or hip so replacement is more frequently performed for arthritic diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and for painful conditions secondary to trauma such as fractures or rotator cuff dysfunction. Replacing the shoulder is a different matter from the main weight bearing joints of the lower limbs which can be thought of as .hard tissue joints.

The shoulder is more of a .soft tissue joint. in that the orientation and sufficiency of the soft tissues are what allows the joint to function properly. Typically the socket is replaced by a plastic socket component and the humeral head by a metal component which has a stem down the humeral shaft. The correct positioning of the humeral head in relation to the soft tissues such as the rotator cuff tendons is vital as if this is not correct then the joint surfaces may be fine but the shoulder will not function correctly. Patients are routinely referred to physiotherapy, initially for range of motion and later for strengthening and functional work.