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Treatment for shoulder injuries depends on the severity of the injury. The patient's activity level and overall health are also important factors to consider before treatment begins.

Partial tears to these shoulder muscles and ligaments can typically be treated with rehabilitation and bracing. However, specific treatment for a shoulder ligament/tendon injury will be determined by your physician based on age, overall health, medical history, extent of the injury, the patient's tolerance for specific medications, procedures and therapies.

Treatment may also include muscle-strengthening exercises, protective shoulder brace, or RICE (rest, ice, compression and elevation).

Recovery

This type of recovery may include resting of the muscle and limited activity or rehabilitation therapy, which involves range of motion and strength exercises to help restore the shoulder to full function. These include flexibility and muscle strengthening exercises targeting the muscles around the rotator cuff and scapula. Depending on the injury, physical therapy may last anywhere from a few weeks to a few months. The surgeon may have you perform different exercises in order to help regain strength to the ligament.

All patient education materials are provided by OrthoPatientEd.com and have been reviewed by our Advisory Board of leading Orthopedic Surgeons to ensure accuracy. All materials are provided for informational purposes only and are not intended to be a substitute for medical advice from your orthopedic surgeon. Any medical decisions should be made after consulting a qualified physician. This site includes links to other web sites. OrthoPatientEd.com takes no responsibility for the content or information contained in the linked sites.

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