Timely diagnosis and correct treatment helps
two different patients with shoulder pain
When Dr. V K Saraswat, eminent
Scientist and Member, NITI Aayog,
started having shoulder pain he assumed
it to be just a normal shoulder pain.
However, when the pain continued
for six weeks, a sense of medical
urgency prevailed upon Dr. Saraswat.
Subsequently, he approached Dr. Deepak
Chaudhary, Director of Arthroscopy
& Sports Medicine Centre, BLK
Institute for Bone, Joint Replacement,
Orthopaedics Spine & Sports Medicine,
who he knew personally. Dr. Chaudhary
after thorough clinical investigations
diagnosed his case as a rotator cuff
tear. Thanks to early diagnosis and
conservative treatment (Physiotherapy),
Dr. Saraswat got relieved of his shoulder
Dr. Saraswat's case is not an isolated
incident where shoulder pains resulting
from rotator cuff tear have been
confused with frozen shoulder. In fact,
in the last six months at BLK Super
Speciality Hospital, Dr. Chaudhary has
treated over 80 patients who suffered
from similar problems, and nearly 70%
patients were suffering from rotator
cuff problem but were misdiagnosed as
frozen shoulder. Patients kept suffering
for a long time due to lack of awareness
and misdiagnosis.
Another similar case is of a national level
young wrestler from Bhiwani, Haryana,
Hemant (18) who had to undergo
minimal invasive Arthroscopic surgery
to get rid of his shoulder pain. A year
back during a wrestling competition, he
sustained a severe shoulder injury which
was previously diagnosed as a frozen
shoulder for which he took steroids to
get relief. However, the pain continued,
and he could not move his arm.
Upon advice by a family friend,
he consulted Dr. Chaudhary
and underwent a successful
Arthroscopic surgery. He
is now free from pain and
planning to return to his
wrestling career soon.
“Normally in such cases,
patients consult doctors and
physiotherapists who diagnose
this condition as frozen
shoulder and the patients
undergo some steroid shots
in the shoulder and many
sessions of Physiotherapy
without much relief. Hemant’s
case was similar and timely
diagnosis detected the problem
of a rotator cuff tear. We
performed a minimally invasive surgery
(Arthroscopic Rotator Cuff Repair),
where the torn tendon was repaired back
to the bone using some imported anchors.
It has been 6 months after surgery, he is
pain-free now and has regained normal
strength in his shoulder," said
Dr. Chaudhary.
Dr. Saraswat said, “We tend to delay
treatment for shoulder pain, and I also
delayed proper medical intervention for
quite sometime. People, suffering from
shoulder pain, need to be made aware
of the rotator cuff tear and availability
of an effective Arthroscopic treatment
for that.”
pain and is now actively doing routine
chores.
“I was experiencing acute shoulder pain,
and it was difficult for me to raise my
hand. I was not able to do easy tasks
with my right hand. Initially, I thought
it is normal shoulder pain due to some
weight lifting or muscle tear. When the
pain did not subside with medicines and
exercise, friends advised me to go to a
Physiotherapist as it looked like a frozen
shoulder case. Meanwhile, I consulted
my friend Dr. Chaudhary, and he raised
the alarm and asked me to undergo some
tests under his observation," said Dr.
Saraswat, former Secretary, DRDO.
Dr. Saraswat and Hemant are just a
few examples amongst many patients
suffering from prolonged shoulder pain
before being diagnosed as Rotator Cuff
tear and are leading a pain-free life after
Arthroscopic Surgery.
Rotator cuff is a group of 4 muscles
over the shoulder joint which with
advancing age undergoes degeneration
and sometimes after trivial trauma or
even without trauma can be torn leading
to severe pain especially at night and
weakness of the shoulder.
“The key to successful treatment of the
condition is to diagnose the condition
early and to perform the repair in wellselected cases. Some initial cases do
respond to conservative medicine like
steroid injection and Physiotherapy.
The latest conservative modality in
early cases is Platelet-rich plasma (PRP)
injection where patient’s own blood is
withdrawn and the growth factors are
centrifuged and injected into the injured
area resulting in healing,” explained Dr.
Shiv Chouksey, Associate Consultant,
Institute for Bone, Joint Replacement,
Orthopaedics Spine & Sports Medicine,
BLK Super Speciality Hospital.
According to Arthroscopic surgeons,
only after proper evaluation, the correct
plan for treatment whether conservative
or surgical can be decided for a patient
depending on his age, activity level and
other associated conditions. Arthroscopic
treatment in well-selected cases of
rotator cuff repair provide dramatic relief
in terms of pain and regaining strength.
Dr. Deepak Chaudhary
Director – Arthroscopy &
Sports Medicine Centre
BLK Institute for Bone,
Joint Replacement,
Orthopaedics Spine &
Sports Medicine
Dr. Shiv Chouksey
Associate Consultant
Arthroscopy & Sports
Medicine Centre
BLK Institute for Bone,
Joint Replacement,
Orthopaedics Spine &
Sports Medicine