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I hurt my shoulder a few months ago and was told that it was my rotator cuff. My doctor now says I should have surgery but why have I had to wait until now for that? Couldn't this have been done earlier?

Although surgery may seem like a quick fix, many people with rotator cuff injuries are treated with physiotherapy and exercise. Surgery is only used if the injury doesn't seem to be healing. Because it can take a while for the injury to heal, your doctor has to wait to decide if you should have further treatment or not.

Besides exercise, some doctors use steroid injections into the shoulder to help relieve swelling and pain.

Reference: 

R. Frank Henn III, MD, et al. Patients' Preoperative Expectations Predict the Outcome of Rotator Cuff Repair. In The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery. September 2007. Vol. 89-A. No. 9. Pp. 1912-1919.

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