Let’s look at a few of the risks of not addressing rotator cuff impingement syndrome:

1. Loss of range of motion – you may lose the ability to reach behind your back or raise your arm up towards the ceiling. If you do not address this reduction in your range of motion, damage inside the shoulder joint can become permanent so you definitely want to make sure you know why you have this impingement and secondly follow the appropriate course of treatment.

2. Inflammation and Scar Tissue – increased swelling of the bursa and tendons can lead to bursitis and tendinitis of not only the supraspinatus but also the subacromial bursa. Other muscle tendons surrounding the shoulder joint such as your biceps tendon can also become very tender and inflammated. If inflammation persists it can lead to calcifying of the muscle tendons which is a hardening and loss of elasticity off the tendons plus conditions such as adhesive capsulitis or frozen shoulder can occur leading to further pain and loss of mobility in your shoulder.

You can see the entire red area indicates areas affected.

3. Permanent weakening and atrophy of the rotator cuff muscles can lead to a multi-directional instability of your humeral head which in turn can lead to a rotator cuff tear, arthritic and bony changes of the humeral head (sharp bone spur edges form on the acromion and can cut your rotator cuff tendon)  and acromion as well as increased arthritis and the deterioration of the acromio-clavicular joint to just name a few.

Example of Rotator Cuff Tear:

These are just a few of the risks that could stem from not addressing rotator cuff muscle imbalance and impingement.

This is serious stuff and I hope it gives you an idea of how important it is to address this condition in its early stages to avoid future permanent damage to shoulder.