Something that may be of interest for those with Rotator Cuff Injuries

[DangerBoy]

I thought I'd put this out here in case it might help someone with nagging rotator cuff issues like I once did. I had fantastic results with a particular form of therapy so I just wanted to share my story and make people aware this therapy option is out there in case it might help them. I can't guarantee it will work for everyone but it sure did for me.

 

In 2012 - 2013 I had torn supraspinatus rotator cuff muscle in my left shoulder. This was verified by ultra-sound. You could see the tear very clearly in the image the ultra-sound tech handed me in the report she told me to take to my Physio.

 

As most of you know, the injury I had and rotator cuff injuries in general are very common in people over 40 and I'm guessing very common in slalom water skiers. A torn Supraspinatus is a very tough injury to fix owing to the minimal blood supply that muscle gets and most standard physio treatment methods don't seem to have much effect on it at all. This is because most of those methods are trying to facilitate healing by increasing bloodflow to the site but the bloodflow is so restricted to that muscle, trying to get more blood to go there seems to deliver minimal, if any, results. I personally know and have heard of people who have spent thousands going to repeated physio sessions for months or even years for rotator cuff injuries and have had very unsatisfying results.

 

I sought out a therapist here in Calgary who had the only Class IV laser therapy machine in the whole city at the time. Every other physio place that did laser therapy had Class IIIB laser machines. I'm not sure how prevalent Class IV lasers are at Physio clinics elsewhere but here where I live they're still quite rare. At this time, I think maybe 3 out of 50 or more physio clinics in Calgary have got a Class IV. The reason why is the cost difference; Class IIIB machines cost much less than Class IVs. A lot of Veterinary clinics use Class IV lasers though. The reason I wanted laser therapy is because it facilitates healing a different way that does not rely upon stimulating more bloodflow to the site. You can find lots of info on the 'net that will explain how laser therapy attempts to facilitate healing vs say something like ultrasound, massage or heat therapy.

 

The problem is that Class IIIB lasers max out at just 1 watt of power but most of the heads they use on them cut that down to about half a watt. A Class IV laser is 10 watts so delivers about 20 times the energy to the wound site. The power difference is really significant on deep tissue injuries where the Class IIIB laser delivers almost no energy to the site and has far less effect than Class IV.

 

Okay, so I've got a bonafide proven rotator cuff (supraspinatus) muscle tear. It's stopping me from doing a number of weight training exercises and it really hurts when I do certain movements or activities that engage that muscle. I go into a Physio clinic with a Class IV laser and get 6 laser treatments over two weeks. I then take 3 weeks off taking it easy on the shoulder and then went back for 1 more treatment (which in hindsight I didn't need). At that point I was completely cured! I went right back to weightlifting and doing strenuous things with the shoulder and had zero pain and all of my strength and range of motion back. Luckily, I've never had an issue with that muscle ever since.

 

Since then, I've sent a number of friends with rotator cuff issues to that clinic and while none of them had near as quick results as I did (my Physio said I healed exceptionally fast compared to most), they have all reported that they've made way more progress and have had way more positive results than they ever had with years of other types of Physiotherapy.

 

Again, I can't promise that this type of therapy will be a cure for anyone else's shoulder cuff problems but it helped me an incredible amount and delivered excellent results quite quickly. With any luck, maybe this information will be of benefit to others on this forum.

[Than_Bogan]

Sounds really interesting.

 

But a class IV laser is Wicked Dangerous, able to cause permanent eye damage. From the wikipedia page:

 

"By definition, a class 4 laser can burn the skin, or cause devastating and permanent eye damage as a result of direct, diffuse or indirect beam viewing."

 

How do they mitigate that potential danger?

[DangerBoy]

They make you wear special glasses to protect your eyes when the laser is on. I never had any sensation of skin or tissue burning nor any other unwanted/undesirable effects. I could feel the power of the thing working deep in my shoulder tissue as he hovered the laser head about an inch above my shoulder. It was a pretty weird sensation. I think he had completed special training to be allowed to use it on people. There's no question those machines are powerful but used correctly, they're quite safe and VERY effective for some types of injuries.

 

A couple years ago I went back to see him for a tendon injury I had in my back foot ankle and he used the Class IV there too. Again, excellent results. The injury healed up very quickly and I was able to resume water skiing again right afterwards.

[chris55]

I dislocated my left shoulder 2 and half months ago and I still have pains and I feel it might end up with the same kind of torn supraspinatus rotator cuff muscle.....thank you for sharing and I will talk about it with my doctor next time I'll see him. Very interesting .....I have to find out if they use laser class IV here in Geneva, Switzerland.....I miss so much not skiing and keeping my fitness.... :s

[DangerBoy]

@scotchipman I was weightlifting at the time and there were a number of specific lifts I couldn't perform although I cannot remember which ones exactly. What I can tell you is I would start the motion with the dumbell and when I got to the point where supraspinatus muscles became engaged I could go no further on the left side unless I shifted my body slightly in some way so as to disengage the Supraspinatus and engage a different muscle on that side. That would allow me to complete the lift although obiously, the form was not correct on the left side and the supraspinatus had been bypassed.

 

I remember one particular shoulder warm up excercise was painful before getting the laser therapy. I would start with my upper arms straight out sideways following an imaginary line going through both shoulders. My forearms would be bent straight upwards at right angles. Sort of a muscle man pose if you will. The warm up motion was then to simply rotate the forearms forward 90 degrees until they were pointing straight forward and then rotate them back until they were straight up again all the while keeping the forearms in the same position. Doing that would cause quite a bit of discomfort in my left shoulder.

 

After the short bit of therapy was done I could do that motion without any pain or discomfort (still can) and could do all of the lifts I was having trouble with before without having to do anything to avoid engaging the supraspinatus. Everything was normal again on the left side and I was free of pain. Luckily, I've avoided sustaining any rotator cuff injuries ever since.

[A_B]

Interesting. I did a lower level laser for some other issues and it seemed to help.

 

http://www.madisonlasertherapy.com/uploads/6/4/3/2/6432749/class_iv_therapy_laser_case_studies_report_2013.pdf

[DangerBoy]

@chris55 If you separated your shoulder you have no doubt at least strained all sorts of ligaments and tendons if not torn some things as well. Some of those injuries will probably benefit from regular sorts of physiotherapies as the injured tissues will have a decent blood supply. As I understand it, laser therapy works differently by stimulating production of certain things that are needed for healing the injury in the mitochondria of the cells right in the injured tissue. Those things then don't need to be delivered there via the bloodstream. This is why it works on injuries like supraspinatus tears so much better than other therapies like ultrasound do.

 

With that in mind, there shouldn't be a downside to using a Class IV laser on your shoulder. It should be complimentary to the other physio treatments you're getting and help all of your injuries to heal faster, especially the injuries to tissues with poor blood supply which probably aren't getting much benefit from those therapies that are trying to facilitate healing by increasing bloodflow to the injured tissues.

 

If you can't find a physiotherapist in Geneva that has a Class IV laser maybe you could try bribing a veterinarian who has one to zap you a few times on your shoulder? Your ability to waterski is at stake here so desperate times call for desperate measures! ;)

[DangerBoy]

@scotchipman After thinking about it a bit, I now seem to recall one excercise I couldn't do with the injury was a dumbell bench press in a declining position (head lower than feet). I can't remember if the dumbells were parallel or perpindicular to my body. I remember that I could only raise the weight so far on my left side and then I'd have to rotate my left shoulder up off the bench and maybe make some other small adjustments to get the load off my supraspinatus and onto some other cuff muscle so I could push through the lift. No problems doing that lift without any adjustments after the Class IV laser therapy.

[chris55]

Thank's a lot @DangerBoy for these enlightning informations. I see my doctor in 10 days

[DangerBoy]

Thought I'd give this post a bump in case there's someone out there with a rotator cuff tear that could benefit from reading this post. And just as an update, still 100% issue free in the shoulder that had the torn supraspinatus rotator cuff muscle.

 

Did anybody try a Class IV laser on their rotator cuff injuries because of this posting? What were your results?

[S1Pitts]

@DangerBoy Could you PM me the contact info for the clinic? My son lives in Calgary and just received knee surgery. Perhaps this therapy would help with the recovery too.

[Drago]

Since it came up, I’m rereading this thread: why is @dangerboy answering nonexistent questions from @scotchipman ?

[BraceMaker]

@scotchipman became @ScotChipman1 and his old posts aren't showing.

[Zman]

There is another item that is very good for PT of the rotator cuff called the BodyBlade. Google it.

Good for strengthening to help prevent issues too.

[DangerBoy]

Thanks @BraceMaker. I was puzzling over that too even before @Drago raised the question.

[Drago]

Off topic i guess, but:

 

[ScotChipman1]

My old account was banned, patched things up with @Horton and now have the new account. All of my old posts are gone so things may not make much sense in old threads that I posted in.

[eyepeeler]

Lasers are cool but if you get an erection lasting more than four hours, shut the laser off.

[coach3]

Had a massive RCT one arming a gas can into a pickup truck. After 3 months, Doc said I was ahead of schedule and could do what I wished and hit the gym. I did a deep water start and pulled it. Stupid. Didn't retear, but.....healing back up now, and hope to lift carefully and progressively all winter. Hope I can ski again in the spring? Others out there with RC surgery able to ski some short line again? (MId 35 off)

[lpskier]

@coach3 Mid 35? No. Deep 38? Sure thing!

[aspski]

@DangerBoy Where in town did you end up going for this treatment? I need to get both my shoulders done :'(

[ISP6ball]

@aspski Both :# ? Ughhh

You're in for a battle.

[eyepeeler]

I have 8 LASERS...I laser myself almost everyday...