Rotator Cuff Tear: Injection vs. Surgery? (Which Is Right for You?)

📌 Learn more about Dr. Ivan Wong and Island Orthopaedics at https://www.drivanwong.com or https://www.islandorthopaedics.ky The shot works. The pain drops. You sleep better and reach overhead without thinking. But feeling better does not mean the problem is solved. A torn tendon that is not fixed keeps pulling back, and waiting has a cost even when it does not hurt. In this video, I'm going to explain how I decide whether an injection is enough for a rotator cuff tear or whether surgery is the treatment that actually gets you back to full strength. ⏱️ TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Rotator Cuff Tear: Injection vs. Surgery? (Which Is Right for You?) 0:57 Why an MRI does not show pain 1:26 How a diagnostic injection finds the real source 2:10 What an injection can and cannot fix 3:00 Why waiting on a rotator cuff tear is not free 4:31 The real goal, a shoulder you can trust again 5:19 Why objective strength testing matters 6:30 Signs the injection did not answer the whole question 7:21 The three real questions behind treatment 8:06 What to ask before you agree to surgery ❓ QUESTIONS ANSWERED Does a cortisone or lidocaine injection heal a torn rotator cuff? No. An injection can reduce inflammation and calm pain enough for physiotherapy to work, but it cannot reattach a tendon that has torn away from the bone. Only surgery can physically reconnect torn tissue. How do doctors know if an injection actually found the source of shoulder pain? Doctors use an ultrasound guided injection with numbing medicine placed at the suspected pain site, then ask the patient to repeat the motion that normally causes pain. If the pain disappears within minutes, that confirms the pain source; if nothing changes, the real cause is somewhere else. Is it safe to wait on rotator cuff surgery if an injection relieves the pain? Waiting is not an emergency, but it is not risk free either. A fully torn tendon can keep retracting and the attached muscle can turn to fatty tissue over time, which makes a clean surgical repair harder the longer treatment is delayed. 🎥 WATCH NEXT    • Choosing a Shoulder Surgeon? Forget Review...   Before Shoulder Surgery, Ask Your Surgeon These 4 Questions 📱 RESOURCES Website: https://www.drivanwong.com Practice: https://www.islandorthopaedics.ky Instagram:   / drivanwongmd   LinkedIn:   / ivan-wong-415b8515   🔔 If this changed how you think about your shoulder, subscribe for more videos breaking down the real reasons injuries do not heal the way you expect. 💬 Have you had an injection for a rotator cuff tear? Did it fix the pain, or did the weakness stick around? Tell me what happened in the comments. ABOUT DR. IVAN WONG Dr. Ivan Wong is an orthopaedic surgeon specializing in joint preservation of the shoulder, hip, and knee. He holds an MD, FRCS(C), and a Masters of Academic Medicine, and is a Fellow of the Royal College and a Fellow of the Arthroscopic Association of North America. He is a past president of the Arthroscopy Association of Canada, has treated more than 10,000 patients over 17 years, and developed the AAGR procedure now taught to surgeons around the world. He has published over 200 articles and leads one of the largest research teams in his field, with a focus on objective outcome measurement rather than guesswork. #ShoulderInstability #OrthopaedicSurgeon #ShoulderDislocation #JointPreservation #SportsInjury