Philadelphia and Bucks County auto, truck and motorcycle accidents by their nature often cause injuries to the upper body. Among the variety of those injuries, one common accident injury to the shoulder is a broken collar bone. In turn, a broken collar bone can cause a rotator cuff to tear.
While a rotator cuff can tear as a result of degeneration that comes with age, it is entirely different from an acute tear which happens with a sudden shoulder injury. It’s much more likely that the rotator cuff would tear when there is other sudden shoulder injury like that which happens in a Bucks County accident.
What is a rotator cuff?
Your rotator cuff is a network of four muscles that join as tendons to keep your arm in your shoulder socket. These tendons cover the uppermost part of your humerus (bone). The rotator cuff helps you to lift and rotate your arm because it attaches the humerus to the shoulder blade.
Rotator cuff tears that happen suddenly usually cause intense pain and are sometimes accompanied by a snapping feeling or immediate upper arm weakness. The physician who examines your shoulder injury can confirm a diagnosis of a rotator cuff tear through an MRI or ultrasound. Either of these tests can show a soft tissue injury.
If the shoulder injury from your Bucks County accident is indeed a rotator cuff injury, you can do more damage to it if you continue to use it despite increasing pain. It is important that you get immediate treatment if you have been diagnosed with a rotator cuff injury. Shoulder treatment options include both non-surgical and surgical relief.
Available non-surgical treatment options for you can include:
•A sling to immobilize shoulder
•Non-steroid or anti-inflammatory medications
•Limiting overhead activities
•Modified activities
•Strengthening exercises
•Physical therapy
•Cortisone injection
A cortisone (steroid) injection is usually a last resort before considering a surgical intervention, and many times it reduces pain of a shoulder or rotator cuff injury enough to avoid it.
If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with a rotator cuff injury from a Bucks County accident, the personal injury lawyers at Cordisco & Saile LLC have the experience to help you obtain the compensation you need so that you can get treatment to ensure the best possible medical recovery.
For more information about what to do if you have been injured in a Bucks County or Philadelphia area accident, get our FREE PA Car Accident Guide.
