Where Is The Pain Located with a Torn Rotator Cuff

Most patients are surprised to hear that the pain they feel may be on the side of their arm is due to a torn cuff.

This is extremely common. People feel pain down the deltoid insertion and mid-humerus up on the side. If you have pain in the front, you can feel pain radiating up to the trap and then in the back of the shoulder. It can hurt pretty much everywhere if you have a torn rotator cuff.

It’s not a specific one spot. It’s a generalized aching. Part of that is because the rotator cuff is the stabilizer for the shoulder joint.

When your cuff’s torn, it’s not the tear that hurts. It’s the fact that the whole system is disrupted. Muscles have to overwork and underwork and you get all these bad movement patterns and everything just becomes inflamed because this crucial link to the system is now disrupted. All the other parts then become out of whack. So, you hurt everywhere.