 Hi, I'm Dr. Sushal Shantakumar. I'm a consultant shoulder surgeon practicing in Manipal Hospital's Bangalore. Treatment can be broadly categorized into conservative and surgical. So in case of small tears, in case of partial tears where the loss of function is not so significant, this can be managed with rest. You can give some activity modification. Patient can be put on some medications, especially non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Steroid injections can be given which will reduce inflammation over a period of time. A cup of one to two injections can be given. And then once the acute pain reduces, patient can be put on specific strengthening exercises to strengthen the involved muscles. The natural course of a tear is progression. A small tear or a partial tear will become a small tear. A small tear will become invariably become a large tear. So surgery is a definitive option which probably needs to be considered if you have a small to large tears and significant loss of function. Previously, about five to ten years ago, people used to open the shoulder joint and treat it with open rotator cuff repair. Now what some of the shoulder surgeons, including me, we do is, we do something known as arthroscopic rotator cuff repair. We make small incisions in your shoulder, put in an arthroscope and repair the torn muscles using bio anchors. These are absorbable and they dissolve over a period of time.