you cannot accurately diagnose a rotator cuff tear by symptoms alone and certainly not as a self-diagnosis. even your doctor may have difficulty unless an mri is ordered. take it from someone who had a rotator cuff tear. you need to see a good orthopedist and probably need to have imaging studies (like an mri). i think you should take rods advice hon. i too had rotator cuff repair bicep and then cuff again. when the dr. did the cuff repair the first time he said that the bicep was only torn about 8 % so he thought it would mend itself. 5 months later took an mri and the bicep was torn by 65% so i went in for bicep surgery. 5 months later another mri because i was still in pain. needed rotator cuff repair again and trigger finger release surgery. this last time my shoulder felt great a week after surgery but my finger was in pain and just didn't feel right. unfortunately i had a back pain and jerked my shoulder just a little bit which started pain in my arm/shoulder once again. went back to the dr. he gave me antiinflammatory cream to put on my finger and shoulder made an appt. for 6 wks. and sent me on my way. i had this last appt. got tired of waiting 1:15 min. later so i tried to get a new dr. --- they all keep saying they can't help me. try going to the university hospital! so this is where i am at. i guess what i am trying to say is that you definitely need a dr. to look at it and if what your dr. prescribes isn't working or if he decides you need surgery - get a second opinion.
rotator cuff injury i believe that is what i have. i have been suffering from left shoulder pain for a while and it is gotten to the point that if i move my arm a certain way it feels like a knife is going through it i cannot lie on it but for a few minuets and then im in pain i can move my arm forward with very limited pain but any other direction i cannot without sever pain does this sound like a rotator cuff tear?