Shoulder Pain + Rotator Cuff Injuries

Shoulder pain is often related to rotator cuff injuries. The rotator cuff stabilizes the ball of the shoulder joint in the socket and is involved with daily shoulder movements. Repetitive lifting and/ or sporting activities can cause injury to the rotator cuff, or it may degenerate as a person ages without a specific trauma/ injury.

Pain associated with the rotator cuff is often a deep joint pain aggravated with overhead or reaching activities of the affected arm. Night pain is also a typical characteristic of rotator cuff injury and a severe rotator cuff injury may result in loss of shoulder strength and motion.

Shoulder pain that does not improve after a period of rest and protection should be evaluated by a medical professional. This evaluation may include testing motion and strength of the joint and often, imaging such as X-rays or an MRI scan. A medical evaluation is important to rule out other common causes of shoulder pain such as arthritis or referred pain from the neck.

There is a spectrum of rotator cuff injuries from inflammation to partial thickness tearing to full thickness tearing. Treatment of rotator cuff inflammation includes rest, protection and sometimes over-the-counter medications such as tylenol or anti-inflammatory medications. An anti-inflammatory steroid injection is also used as needed for more immediate pain relief. Physical therapy is often recommended to optimize balance of the shoulder muscles and range of motion.

Partial thickness tears may heal if they are small, but larger partial thickness and complete rotator cuff tears are often surgically repaired via a minimally invasive shoulder arthroscopy to promote healing and help restore normal rotator cuff function. Recovery after a surgical repair typically requires use of a shoulder sling followed by gradual increase of shoulder function through physical therapy.

Maintaining shoulder motion with stretches and optimizing the strength and balance of the muscles that control the shoulder joint, including the muscles of the arm, the shoulder blade and the chest wall, may help prevent rotator cuff injuries.

Dr. Robert Rupp is a boardcertified orthopedic surgeon and program director of the Lake Tahoe Sports Medicine Fellowship. He is a sports medicine specialist treating shoulder, hip and knee conditions in Carson City, Incline Village, and at the Center for Orthopedics & Wellness in South Lake Tahoe, CA. To learn more about orthopedic services available, call 530.543.5554 or go to BartonOrthopedics AndWellness.com.

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• Navigational channels first. • Shorelines second and then docks if boats are not present and the harvester fits. • Individual slips — if boats were not present, and the harvester could fit.

The weed pile pickup from individual docks will continue this year. The boat crews will only be servicing those homes that are on the schedule for that day. Reminder we do not have a call for pickup. • Weed pile pickup will occur from 0830-1100 for the following days and sections: —Monday/Wednesday will be Sections 1-9a and 19 —Tuesday/Thursday will be Section 9b-18 and East

Channel

• On your pickup day we ask the following:

—The weed piles need to be in an area which is accessible for the boat crews to pick up. The need to be in plain sight and near the edge of your dock.

Please do not place them on the shoreline. —Please do not intermix mud, rocks, terrestrial trees /plants, or garbage with the aquatic plants. This is unnecessary weight that our crews need to lift and an increase costs to the TKPOA homeowners to handle and transport. The WQ staff will not remove anything other than aquatic plants from your dock. —To minimize staining of your dock, place weed piles on a trash bag or similar material close to your scheduled pick-up day. On your scheduled day, we will remove both the weed pile and trash bag.

All of the harvesting and maintenance tasks will take place during our summer season (June through October), Monday–Friday from approximately 7:30 am to 4:30 pm. Our plan is to post the harvesting schedule monthly. We will post this schedule via the TKPOA website www.tkpoa.com, the WQ website www. keysweedsmanagement.org, the WQ Instagram and the TKPOA staff will also send out an email blast that includes those members that have submitted valid email addresses.

We are still conducting several Best Management Projects that are designed to protect Lake Tahoe and reduce the amount of weed fragments within our lagoons and waterways. These projects are: —Bubble Curtain in the West Channel: The Bubble Curtain consists of multiple hoses that are submerged at the bottom of the waterway fed by an air compressor on the shore to push bubbles in a sheet, throughout the water column, to the surface. It was installed in a “V” formation to drive submerged plant fragments to the water’s surface, and then to the edges of the channel to ease collection and removal. An additional benefit of the bubble curtain is that it will trap the stray fragments without impeding boating activity. We have also installed bottom barriers under the bubble curtain lines to ensure that plant growth does not interfere with its design. —Backup Station: Backup Station is a designated area near the West Channel that is designed to remove plant fragments for your watercraft’s propellor and keel prior to transitioning into Lake Tahoe. The concept of this is the watercraft moves into a designated area, the vessel is stopped, reverse the propeller (this is to untangle and release any weeds caught in the propeller, keel or rudder) and then back up ten feet to dislodge any weed fragments. Once this is complete, the boater continues out to Lake Tahoe proper. —Laminar Flow Aeration (LFA): The LFA is a technology used for improving water quality in waterbodies where there is consistently low dissolved oxygen and buildup of fine organic sediment. The technology uses microporous ceramic disks that are placed throughout the area to be aerated. These disks are connected by self-sinking hoses connected to an air compressor. Air is pumped through the system creating an abundance of bubbles that rise and create laminar flow and provide oxygenation to the bottom

of the water column where dissolved oxygen is typically the lowest. This project is taking place in the waterway between Christie Drive and Lucerne Way. —We will also have many different samplings and monitoring this year that will support our overall AIS Program. These projects will include: conducting Hydro-acoustic mapping of our lagoons on a two week basis, monthly water data collection, algae monitoring, annual plant survey, bottom barriers and weekly monitoring of the boat backup station.

For the 2021 season, we will be testing UVC Light technology in the several of the coves in the West Lagoon and the West Channel proper. We will also be installing ultrasound technology which is designed to reduce Harmful Algal Blooms (HAB). We will also be adding another layer of bubble tubing to the existing Bubble Curtain in the West Channel. Through funding from the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) and the League to Save Lake Tahoe a bubble curtain was also installed it the East Channel Proper. Due to the upcoming bulkhead replacement project, the bubble curtain was dismantled until the bulkhead project is complete. We will also increase that amount of Floating Treatment Wetlands during this season as well. Unfortunately, due to the low water season, the 2021 Circulation System test will not take place this summer.

All of our past, current and future project information along with our latest updates can be found at www. keysweedsmanagement.org. I will update the members as the season goes on or if there are any changes to our AIS Program.

If you have any questions about the harvesting schedule or our AIS Program, contact the main office for information at (530) 542-6444. If they cannot answer your questions, you will be referred to me – Greg Hoover, Water Quality Manager/ (AIS) Management Coordinator. I can also be reached by email at ghoover@tahoekeyspoa.org.