Shoulder Exercises for Rotator Cuff Injuries - Do They Work?

A few months back I managed to mess up my left shoulder. All I did was lift some heavy furniture, but I did it with my arm straight which put all the strain on my shoulder joint, felt something go in my shoulder and thought little of it until the next day when I found that I couldn't lift my arm above shoulder height or reach for anything without experiencing pain.

To cut a long story short I had torn my rotator cuff and now had a shoulder impingement. As a consequence I was offered rotator cuff surgery as a solution. Not straight away but after a few weeks of investigation and treatment. Anyway, knowing nothing about the shoulders I decided to find out as much as possible simply so that when I was taking my doctor's advice I was doing so from a position of strength..

It is unusual to damage the actual shoulder joint itself. I had managed a classic and common shoulder injury, by damaging one of the muscles of my rotator cuff. The rotator cuff is a large band of four muscles which cover the shoulder joint helping to stabilize it and hold the humerus(upper bone) of the arm in place in the cartilage socket. Each of these muscles connects to the shoulder blade and the humerus but each one takes a different route around the shoulder so that combined, they form a cuff of muscle, hence the name.

I had torn one of the muscles,the Supraspinatus muscle which helps to move the arm out to the side Other muscles of the rotator cuff are the Teres Minor and Infraspinatus which help with the rotation of the arm. The fourth muscle, the subscapularis helps to hold the ball at the top of the humerus in place when we lift our arm above shoulder height.

Because these muscles are all interconnected and work together so much, if you damage one it can impact on the others quite badly as they try to compensate for the damaged muscle. These muscles also run over and under the bones of the shoulder. Their movement is usually trouble free but if you have managed to damage one it sets off a chain reaction which causes pain and misery. The Supraspinatus, which I had damaged attaches to the shoulder blade and runs over the top of your shoulder before passing under your collar bone through a channel of bone in the acromion which is part of the shoulder blade before attaching to the top of the humerus.

Because this muscle was damaged it started to get inflamed. The inflammation resulted in the muscle getting pinched in this channel of bone (shoulder impingement). This caused the tendon to start to fray, a bit like an old rope, this made the muscle become more inflammed which increased the impingement until after a few days I could barely move my arm.

Depending on how bad your injury is, conventional treatment involves a course of anti-inflammatory drugs such as Ibuprofen. I was maxed out on 600mg four times a day for about eight weeks to try to reduce the inflammation and it helped but the problem was that once I stopped the tablets the pain simply came back. Next the doctor tried a steroid injection right into the centre of the muscle (trust me that smarts a bit) which gave almost instant relief but again as it wore off the pain returned.

Finally I was recommended for corrective surgery. The aim was to use keyhole surgery to shave a piece of bone off my collar bone and acromion to give the tendon more room to move without it getting pinched all the time. It's a fairly standard operation which takes about twenty minutes under general anaesthetic. Because I'm in the UK (we sometimes wait for surgery on the NHS) I was given a surgery date that was three months away. In the meantime I started my research into the shoulder joint and discovered that there has been a lot of research into the benefits of physical therapy even on seemingly persistent injuries such as mine.

With nothing to lose I decided to try physical therapy and was surprised by the results. Because of the shoulder impingement I was restricted in what exercises I could do. At first I was unable to lift my arm much past about 45 degrees but as each day passed it started to improve. It was important to avoid any movement that caused pain or discomfort as this was an indicator that I was damaging the tendon, so the exercises concentrated on movements that I could carry out comfortably.

By starting to work the healthy muscles and get my shoulder back in shape I gradually found the impingement and pain improving which allowed me to do more with the damaged muscle. Every day got a little better until I was able to carry out my full range of movements pain free. In all it took around six weeks to get my shoulder back to full working order again and without the surgery. The date for my planned operation is getting close but I will be postponing it and sticking with the exercises.

Shoulder injuries come in a variety of shapes and sizes. It is probably the most complex joint in the body and consequently is one of the easiest to develop a problem with and one of the most frequent shoulder injuries is a rotator cuff injury. Nearly a third of us will suffer from a problem with these small but important muscles at some point in our lives.

The rotator cuff is a group of four muscles that help to hold the joint in place by pulling the rounded head of the arm into the socket of the shoulder formed by the end of the shoulder blade. These four muscles run over and around the shoulder forming a cuff of muscle, which gives it the name. Without these muscles it would be very easy to dislocate your shoulder as the ball and socket joint of the shoulder is a very shallow joint to allow the wide range of movement that we have and enjoy.

If you damage the rotator cuff you can start to Experience a wide range of symptoms. These include trouble getting comfortable when you lie down leading to sleepless nights, discomfort realise just how much you use your shoulder, so the simplest advice is to avoid any movement that causes pain or discomfort. The pain in a rotator cuff injury is an indication that damage is being done. Try anti-inflammatory drugs like Ibuprofen to bring down any swelling. Avoid working through this type of injury as you can end up turning a fairly simple problem into a major injury that will need surgery.

Once the inflammation and pain has subsided you can start gentle exercise aimed at strengthening the muscle, gradually increasing the frequency and amount of exercise until the shoulder is back to full, pain free, movement. Exercises for this type of injury do not involve heavy weights or strong resistance as that will tend to make you use the major muscles of the shoulder rather than the rotator cuff.

Finally, don't stop the exercises once you feel better. If you have suffered a shoulder injury once there is a pretty good chance of it happening again so, seeing that prevention is better than cure, keep your shoulders in shape as you get older and keep up the exercises.

The shoulder joint comprises of three different bones, the upper arm bone or humerus, collar bone or clavicle and the shoulder blade or scapula. All of these bones affect the shoulder. Before I got a Shoulder Injury , I thought of my shoulder blade as a simple triangle of bone that sat on my back and stuck out if I pushed my elbows forward. I had never really given any thought to its design or purpose.

It is actually quite a complex piece of anatomy. At the top outer corner it has a cup of bone called the glenoid which forms the ball of the shoulder ball and socket joint. It also attaches to the clavicle at the top. This part of the shoulder blade is a hook of bone that curves over at the top called the Acromion.

As well as the bones of the shoulder there are seventeen different muscles which work the shoulder as well as ligaments and cartilage that all go to make up and hold together this complex joint.

The rotator cuff is a group of four muscles that all run from the scapula to the head of the humerus, surrounding the joint in a cuff of muscle . They all pull the ball at the head of the humerus into the socket of the shoulder joint. Because the socket of the shoulder is very shallow these muscles are important to hold the arm in place and stabilize the joint. Without them it would be very easy to dislocate the shoulder joint.

One of these muscles, the supraspinatus runs through a channel of bone in the hook of the acromion before attaching to the humerus. Imagine a thin tendon running through a tunnel of bone. If the tunnel narrows or the tendon gets inflamed it can rub on the bone which will start to damage the tendon leaving it likely to tear or fray. You could compare it to an old rope being rubbed against something hard, after a while the rope would begin to weaken and fray and if left long enough could actually snap.

The causes of rotator cuff impingement are similar to other injuries. Any strain or injury to this particular tendon, that causes swelling, can set off a rotator cuff impingement. Arthritis can cause the channel to narrow and as we get older some of us actually grow bony spurs on the acromion that narrow the channel and cause a potential impingement.

The symptoms of an impingement are pain in the shoulder especially when lifting the arm above shoulder height or reaching up or out for something coupled with difficulty sleeping at night. A simple test that your doctor might do for a rotator cuff impingement is to ask you to straighten your arm with the palm facing away from your body and then to raise it up. If this is painful then you probably have a rotator cuff impingement.

Don't ignore a rotator cuff impingement as this can bring on more serious problems. Treatment starts with rest and anti-inflammatory drugs to reduce the swelling. Make sure that you avoid any overhead movements. If you work at something like plastering or painting you will need to change how you work to do away with these movements. When the muscles have rested and have started to recover you can start exercises to strengthen the rotator cuff to help avoid future injuries.

If symptoms persist or if the bone has changed shape then you are probably looking at surgery to repair things. This will involve keyhole surgery called a sub-acromial decompression where the surgeon shaves away a small piece of bone to free up the tendon.

Most rotator cuff impingements are solved without surgery but it is important to take this injury seriously and let it rest, avoiding overhead movements. The pain you feel is telling you that more damage is being done so listen to your body and let it heal.

At the start of this year I injured my shoulder by tearing one of the muscles in my rotator cuff. Rotator cuff tears come in a large variety of shapes and sizes and the causes can vary just as much so I was relatively lucky in that mine was only a partial tear not, a full thickness tear.

I lifted a piece of furnitire badly and put a strain on my shoulder joint. I felt a shooting pain at the top of my shoulder and fortunately had the common sense to put it down. I rubbed my shoulder and carried on but this time I lifted it was much more carefully. The pain had stopped and everything seemed fine, that was until I woke up the next day.

I woke up to a sharp pain in my shoulder. Lifting my arm up in front of me, reaching for anything or even trying to tuck in the back of my shirt all resulted in a sharp pain at the top of my shoulder. Over the following days things gradually became stiff up and the same movements became more and more painful. Not only was my shoulder giving me pain during the day but I was turning into an insomniac. Whenever I lay on my bad shoulder I was kept awake by the pain. If I lay on my good shoulder, I had carefully lie my arm along my body so that it disn't drop down and cause me pain Life was getting very difficult..

I resorted to sleeping on my back which really annoyed my wife as I immediately started to snore like a trooper.

To cut a long story short, after investigation and an MRI scan it turned out that I had torn one of my rotator cuff muscles. I had managed to tear my Supraspinatus tendon which runs under my collar bone, through a channel of bone before attaching to the head of teh humerus (upper arm bone). Because it was torn it became inflamed. Because of the inflammation it was getting snagged on the bone every time that I moved my arm in a particular way resulting in the muscle gradually fraying. Surgery was recommended. The aim was to shave away a piece of bone to give the damaged muscle more room to move so that it could heal. Being in the UK the date was booked for three months away and I started a painful wait.

I started looking into shoulder problems and their various therapies and found out that the majority of rotator cuff tears can be treated without resorting to surgery. The method is rest to allow the muscle to heal. Treatment of the inflammation with anti-inflammatory drugs and ice packs and then, once the pain has lessened start simple low weight rotator cuff exercises to build up and strengthen the rotator cuff muscles.

Most important of all, let the muscle rest. If I had carried on using my shoulder normally, I would have damaged the muscle even more every time that I used that muscle. Had I succeeded in ignoring the pain or worked through it I could have ended up with a full rotator cuff tear. That would have definitely needed surgery!

As it was by avoiding any movement that caused pain and by carefully treating the inflammation I gradually improved until I could do very basic easy exercises without suffering any pain. As the exercises strengthened my rotator cuff I gradually regained the movement of my shoulder and now ten weeks on I have full pain free movement again.

I'm lucky because I have an office job. With a few simple changes to my desk layout I could avoid putting strain on the damaged muscle. If you have a more physical job you may have to think a bit more about how to avoid using the injured shoulder, but it is essential that you do so as continuing to use it will make it worse and all the therapy in the world wont help if you manage to tear it completely. Rotator cuff exercise features in nearly all shoulder injury therapy courses simply because the strength of the rotator cuff is fundamental to the health of your shoulders. Even if you have healthy shoulders it is worth spending a few minutes a day keeping these four muscles in good shape.

When you have rotator cuff tendonitis, the last thing on your mind is exercise but surprisingly that is exactly what you need to do to repair it. But, before you reach for the gym bag and rush off to lift some weights, stop and read the rest of this article.

The right sort of exercise can repair rotator cuff tendonitis. Doing the wrong sort of exercise will almost certainly make it worse, probably much worse. In fact if you over-exercise a badly inflamed shoulder tendon you will almost certainly end up damaging it further or even snapping the tendon completely which would put you on a waiting list for surgery.

Shoulder tendonitis or rotator cuff tendonitis is simply the irritation or swelling of the tendons of the rotator cuff. Its severity can vary depending on what the initial cause was but is usually the result of either wear and tear caused by aging or a regular overhead action such as painting or throwing. It is an injury that is common to certain sports people and is sometimes known as pitcher's shoulder or swimmer's shoulder.

So how do you fix rotator cuff tendonitis. Firstly, don't worry. It is a fairly common injury with roughly a third of the population experiencing it at some time in their lives. It is also relatively easy to solve with the right therapy.

To start with the therapy is bound to involve giving the muscles a rest and avoiding any of the movements that causes pain. These are bound to be any type of overhead movement or reaching action. You might need to think about the way that you work for a while in order to rest the muscles but it is essential if you want to avoid making things worse.

The inflammation needs to be treated with ice packs and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as Ibuprofen. If the pain continues it may well be worthwhile having a cortisone injection into the muscle to reduce swelling. Your doctor can do this for you.

Once the muscle has settled down you need to start some exercises specifically for the rotator cuff aimed at strengthening the rotator cuff muscles. These are low resistance exercises that isolate the rotator cuff muscles and can easily be done at home. Rushing off to the gym and pushing weights will not do anything for the rotator cuff muscles. These are small but extremely important muscles that help to hold the upper arm bone in place in the socket of the shoulder joint and they are vital to the general health of the joint. Weak rotator cuff muscles equal a weak shoulder no matter how strong the other muscles of the shoulder are.

Rotator cuff therapy exercises are absolutely necessary if you want to regain a healthy pain free shoulder and ought to be mandatory for everyone over forty just to keep our shoulders healthy. Unfortunately most of us don't even know of the existence of the rotator cuff until we get an injury and find out to our cost that we have been neglecting them.

I personally now do five or ten minutes of rotator cuff exercises every day simply to make sure that I never suffer from shoulder problems again.

The quick answer is yes, most of the time. I include most of the time at the end of that because there are a few rotator cuff problems that will need corrective surgery or may benefit from surgery because of amount of damage done. However most rotator cuff pain comes from fairly easy to solve shoulder problems most of which can be treated successfully with physical therapy. (that's exercise to most of us) If you have torn a rotator cuff tendon badly or actually managed a full thickness tear then surgery is going to be needed.

The rotator cuff is a small but very important group of muscles all of which run from the scapula at one end and fix to the upper arm or humerus at the other. They cover the shoulder in a cuff of muscle, hence the name. They are very tightly connected and weave around and under the bones of the shoulder so any problem caused by injury will result in pain. The pain is usually associated with certain movements such as reaching up or out. The rotator cuff is prone to problems as we get older and if we do a sports activity or job that involves a lot of overhead activity.

If you damage these muscles it is important to rest them at first as continuing to use these muscles when they are already inflamed can cause much bigger injuries. Any inflammation needs to be treated with non-steroidal drugs such as Ibuprofen. An ice pack will also help to reduce|in reducing} pain and inflammation. Once the injured muscle has calmed down, you can start gentle shoulder specific exercises to strengthen the rotator cuff muscles.

These exercises will involve small movements with little or no weight intially, often just using the weight of the arm. The rotator cuff is made up of small muscles. Using large weights will tend to exercise the major muscles of the shoulder and ignore the ones you are trying to fix. Rotator cuff specific exercises will focus on strengthening these muscles which are key to having a healthy shoulder.

It is very important not to try working through this type of injury. The pain is caused by tendons impinging on the bone of the joint. If you ignore the pain and carry on using the shoulder you will mess up the muscle even further. Think of it as an old tow rope rubbing against something sharp. Carry on rubbing it against the edge in the same place and eventually it will snap. If your rotator cuff snaps you are looking at major surgery and a long period of recuperation and you will still end up doing the therapy that could have sorted your shoulder out in the first place.

So don't self diagnose when it comes to rotator cuff pain. Make sure you get a professional opinion on the injury and then get the right kind of exercise programmeto do when the problem has settled down. Once your shoulder is better, keep up the therapy exercises to ensure that your shoulders stay healthy and you avoid any future problems

Just because you have damaged your rotator cuff, it does not mean that you are going to require corrective surgery. People injure their rotator cuffs in a variety of ways and every injury will be different depending on how it occurred in the first place.

If you think of the muscles of the rotator cuff as resembling a piece of old tow rope, I say old simply because that's how my rotator cuff felt when I tore it. If you use the rope too often or allow it to rub against something sharp, it may begin to fray, get worn a bit. and consequently weaken.

On the other hand if you try towing something that is too heavy, you will stretch the rope, pulling the strands of rope apart. Pull away too quickly when you are towing and put a sudden strain on a tow rope and it might simply snap or come away from the car.

Exactly the same can happen to the muscles and tendons of the rotator cuff. You can just wear them out with repetitive actions, you can overload them and pull the fibres apart or if you are really unfortunate you can end up snapping them completely.

All complete tears are going to need corrective surgery. If you have succeeded in detaching the tendon from the bone you will certainly be needing corrective surgery to correct it.

Fortunately, most or nearly all partial rotator cuff tears can be cured without resorting to surgery, providing you take them seriously right from the start and don't try carrying on regardless.

A rotator cuff tear, even a small one, will cause inflammation of the tendons. This inflammation can cause impingement which basically means that your tendons are getting caught against or pinched by bone every time that you move your shoulder in a certain way. Lifting your arm above your shoulder may be painful, reaching behind you will be painful, you will find that sleeping is difficult because you will not be able to put your weight on your injured shoulder.

Listen to the message that your body is sending because each pain is a sign of you doing more damage. You need to rest the shoulder, avoiding any movement that causes pain.

Rotator cuff tear treatment will start with rest to allow the muscle to begin healing, combined with reducing any inflammation. Try using anti-inflammatory drugs like Ibuprofen, if that does not work, a steroid injection may be called for. You also need to treat the inflammation with ice packs to bring down the inflammation.

Once the inflammation has reduced movement will ease up. It will not be perfect immediately and that is where exercise helps to build up the rotator cuff muscles and tendons and get the shoulder joint moving again. This will be exercises using low weights or resistance aimed at isolating the rotator cuff muscles. Using large weights will simply get the major muscles working and either ignore or at worst damage the cuff muscles.

The great news is, because of that, a lot of these exercises Can be carried out at home.

Treat a rotator cuff tear correctly and you can have a pain free shoulder back easily and quickly, ignore it and you might as well book surgery straight away.

Shoulder impingement exercises are almost certainly the last thing that you are thinking about if you have a shoulder impingement. Any sort of movement is painful so why would you subject yourself to further pain.

A shoulder impingement is a very painful condition. I know because I managed to tear my rotator cuff at the end of last year and ended up with a shoulder impingement as a result of it. My supraspinatus tendon had become swollen and was getting pinched or impinged each time that I tried lifting my left arm.

The pain was unbelievable. At one point I was maxed out on pain killers and carrying a TENS machine around wired up to my shoulder to reduce the pain.

In case you do not know what a shoulder impingement is. The supraspinatus is one of the rotator cuff muscles. The rotator cuff is made up of four muscles that surround the shoulder helping to stabilise it. They all hold the head of the upper arm in place in the socket of the shoulder joint and all travel from the shoulder blade to the upper arm.

They are comparatively small muscles but vital to having a healthy shoulder joint. Unfortunately they are also easily injured especially for anyone who uses their shoulders a lot at work or in a sport. Painters who are working above head height are prone to rotator cuff problems as is anyone who throws a ball in sport.

The last group that are vulnerable are the over forties. That is where I fit in!

A rotator cuff injury is a vicious circle. Once the tendon gets inflamed it can get pinched within a channel of bone that it runs through. Because it gets pinched it gets more inflamed, gets pinched more, gets more inflamed....see where I am going?

If you do not treat it you could eventually snap the tendon altogether leaving you with a very bad shoulder injury.

Anyway, after several months of pain, I was on a short list for surgery, but having already suffered several months of discomfort, I was reluctant to wait any longer so started looking into shoulder impingement treatment on the internet.

I found out that exercise is the secret to recovery. Not lifting weights but simple exercises aimed at rehabilitating the rotator cuff.

Start off with proper rest. That meant completely avoiding any sort ofmovement that causes you pain. The pain is an indicator that you are damaging the muscle more. This meant some fairly radical changes to my daily routine including giving up driving for a few weeks.

Treat the inflammation. I was maxed out on anti inflammatory drugs and used ice packs every day to bring down the inflammation in the tendon.

As things started to improve I started some Pilates based exercises to gently stretch the muscles and stabilise the joint, gradually moving on to strengthening exercises. By starting slowly and building up gradually over a few weeks I was able to avoid any further damage to my muscles.

My shoulder returned to normal, pain free and fully mobile without resorting to the surgery!

What do I put this down to?

I believe that the over forties are susceptible to this injury because we change shape as we age. We change our posture, we carry ourselves differently, sit badly and change the way in which we use some of our joints. We probably get a bit lazy. Our movements are not as fluid as when we were in our twenties and thirties. All this has an impact on the body and leads to problems.

Doing the right sort of exercise gets things working again, sorts out our posture and gets rid of some of the bad habits that have crept in over time.

This is no revelation. We all know that we need to exercise to stay young. Sometimes it takes something like a shoulder injury to remind us how important it is.

f you have acquired a rotator cuff injury then you will need to consider some sort of shoulder rehabilitation to get things working normally again but what sort are best and when should you do them?

There are different sorts of rotator cuff injury and the treatment may vary depending on what you have managed to do and how long it has been going on.

There are four muscles in the rotator cuff group. They all help to hold the humerus or upper arm bone tight against the socket of the shoulder joint to help when you rotate your arm. That and the fact that they combine to form a cuff of muscle around the joint is what gives them their name.

Two of these muscles, the infraspinatus and the supraspinatus are the most commonly injured muscles of the four. Any sports activity that involves a lot of shoulder rotation puts these two muscles under a great deal of stress, pitching in baseball or bowling in cricket are a couple of examples.

If you tear your rotator cuff it tends to come about in a couple of different ways.

An acute tear usually comes about as a result of a sports injury or fall. They are caused by a sudden force being exerted on the muscle. You are likely to feel the tear as it happens and the muscle may well go into spasm when you attempt to move it. There may also be a tender spot at the sight of the tear. Trying to move your arm out to the side without help may be painful or difficult.

A Chronic tear on the other hand comes about through wear and tear. It is caused by the tendons rubbing against bone. It could be work related, if, for example your work involves constantly working above shoulder height. Painting and decorating is a classic example of an occupation that is prone to rotator cuff problems. It also comes about through age. As we get older our posture changes, sometimes resulting in muscles working differently which can cause the rubbing that eventually injures your tendons.

It is important with shoulder rehabilitation to stop using the shoulder. With an acute tear it could well be worth immobilising the arm in a sling. But with both types of injury you need to avoid any movement that results in pain. At the same time treat the pain and inflammation with ice packs and anti-inflammatory drugs. If the problems persist for more than two or three days you need to consult a doctor to get checked out.

Treatment might involve surgery especially if you have given yourself a severe shoulder impingement or use your shoulders a lot at work but most shoulder injuries can be treated with rest, ice and anti-inflammatory drugs followed by exercise once the inflammation and pain has subsided.

Do not try carrying on with a rotator cuff problem as it will make things worse. Exercise will involve low resistance exercises aimed at isolating and developing the rotator cuff muscles. Yoga and Pilates based exercises are excellent for shoulder rehabilitation because they work with the body's natural resistance working one muscle against another so are unlikely to cause any further injury.

Whether you have surgery or not, gentle, shoulder specific exercise is the key to shoulder rehabilitation. The difference is in the timing.

Do not forget to keep up the exercises once your shoulder is better. Keep your rotator cuff strong and have healthy shoulders for life. One rotator cuff injury is enough for anyone.

Rotator cuff problems are one of the most common injuries. Eight million Americans will visit their doctor with a shoulder injury this year and the vast majority of them will be for rotator cuff injuries. These could range from a strain to a full thickness tear.

The good news is that for the majority of people a rotator cuff repair will not involve any surgery. Surgery is thought of as a last resort unless your shoulder is stopping you from working or you are keen on a sport or you have a full thickness tear. There is recent research that shows that there are a number of people walking around with torn rotator cuffs without exhibiting any of the usual symptoms. Anything up to thirty percent of the over fifties could have a rotator cuff tear that shows no symptoms. This figure is thought to be as high as seventy percent in the over eighties.

Physical Therapy is now the number one treatment for shoulder problems and most cuff injuries respond well to it. The theory, confirmed by the recent research, is that a rotator cuff tear does not need to heal completely to become rehabilitated. With twenty two different muscles involved in moving our shoulders there are plenty of muscles around to help a damaged rotator cuff.

The aim of shoulder physical therapy in shoulder injuries is not just to work on the rotator cuff but also to strengthen all the muscles so that the shoulder works more efficiently. This way other muscles will take over and allow the cuff to heal.

Therapy for a shoulder injury will include a period of rest to allow healing to start, treating the inflamed tendons with ice and anti-inflammatory drugs at the same time. If you manage to control the inflammation in shoulder injuries you will control the pain. If off the shelf anti-inflammatory drugs do not seem to do the trick then steroid injections administered by your doctor will kick start the process.

Once the injury has settled down and better movement has returned you can start a shoulder specific physical therapy programme to facilitate the rotator cuff repair. This will usually start with stretching exercises to improve mobility gradually moving on to low weight / low resistence exercises to start waking up weakened shoulder muscles. The important thing is that you take it easy and don't rush it as you need to avoid any painful movements.

Gradually over the next few weeks you increase the level and variety of exercises to strengthen the shoulder. This in turn, supports the injured rotator cuff tendon and allows it to heal.

These exercises do not involve pushing weights at the gym. Gym work will probably cause more damage. Shoulder rehabilitation exercises focus on flexibility and control before moving on to strengthening exercises. Some will focus on individual muscles and some on groups of muscles but the end result is to strengthen the whole shoulder to support the healing and avoid future injuries..

So if you are worrying about a rotator cuff repair, stop, it is probably a lot easier than you think.

It seems hard to believe but shoulder exercises helped me to lose weight and get fit or should I say helped me get back in shape.

About twelve months ago I tore my rotator cuff. Up until then I had been a reasonably fit person, I ran three times a week, I had occasional bouts of gym membership, swam regularly, played golf, played squash and generally looked after myself quite well. I was in my early fifties, looking good and proud of it.

And then I managed to tear my rotator cuff. I woke up one morning with a sore shoulder. I knew I had hurt it the day before lifting something that was too heavy but had thought little more of it. Over the following few days my shoulder got worse. What started out as a sore shoulder became an arm that was constantly hurting; raising my arm to the side or front caused pain. Getting showered, getting dressed all became difficult. The more I used it the worse it felt.

I had to stop going to the gym, swimming was impossible, squash and golf both had to stop and finally the running became too painful. Every step caused a shooting pain through my shoulder.

I went to the doctor, who diagnosed a problem with my rotator cuff and referred me to a specialist. The specialist confirmed a torn rotator cuff and gave me a steroid injection to ease the inflammation and pain. It helped for a while but the pain returned. Another steroid injection had the same effect so in the end I was booked for surgery to free up what was now a shoulder impingement.

All this took time, time in which I was unable to exercise because of the pain. Gentle walking was about all I could manage. My weight went up, my general fitness levels went down and all because of a simple shoulder injury.

I was booked for surgery but it was three months away so in desperation I started looking into shoulder injuries and how to treat them. I found out that shoulder exercises are a big part of most shoulder therapy programmes especially rotator cuff problems.

Your rotator cuff helps to move and stabilise the shoulder joint especially when you raise your arms or rotate them. If you damage your rotator cuff it beocmes inflamed and in some cases the tendons can become impinged or pinched against the shoulder blade. This is what happened in my case.

The idea with shoulder exercises in rotator cuff injuries is to strengthen the shoulder muscles to give extra support to the rotator cuff and allow it to heal. It is important to treat the inflammation, resting the shoulder completely to let it start to heal before you try any exercise. I gave it a go.

By now my shoulders were quite weak from lack of exercise so I began with some simple stretching exercises to improve mobility, following up with low weight, low resistance exercises to begin strengthening the muscles. Gradually over the next few weeks I increased the intensity of the exercises. My shoulder started to get better. I could feel it getting stronger and improving as each week went by. The exercises focused on control and flexibility as well as strength.

I am now back to running, have had my first swim and even played a round of golf. The surgery is postponed, the extra weight is starting to go and I feel a lot fitter. So don't underestimate the power of simple shoulder exercises. They definitely changed my life for the better.

 

Rotator cuff strengthening exercises are the key to shoulder health and strength, whether you are trying to build strength, recover from an injury or avoid injury. In my case it was a shoulder problem that got me researching to strengthen my rotator cuff but whatever your motivation you can learn from my story.

Shoulders are the most complicated joint in the body. They have to be simply because of the wide range of movement that we enjoy with them. They can move our arms in just about any direction. This flexibility comes about because the shoulder is a very shallow ball and socket joint. The ball at the head of the humerus or upper arm bone sits on a shallow socket of bone at the outer edge of the shoulder blade. If you think of this as like a soccer ball sitting on a saucer you get  apicture of teh make up of teh joint.

Although the shape of the shoulder gives us the benefit of a wide range of movement it also gives the shoulder its inherent weak point which is that it is very easy to dislocate the shoulder by knocking the ball off the saucer.

Along with cartilage and ligaments the muscles of the rotator cuff are designed  to prevent dislocation by holding the ball on the saucer giving us stability in the joint. Whenever we move our shoulders in a way that puts a strain on them, our cuff muscles pull on the arm to hold it in the socket. They are worked hardest when we make rotational movements, hence the name. If we raise our arm out to the side or front we put an extra load on the rotator cuff. This is why these movements hurt if you have a rotator cuff injury.

So a weak or damaged rotator cuff equates to a weak shoulder. Research has shown that weight lifters who include rotator cuff strengthening exercises in their regime can lift higher weights than those who neglect this group of muscles.

So the secret to healthier shoulders is to strengthen the rotator cuff muscles.

Unfortunately it is not quite that simple if you have a damaged rotator cuff. I tore my left rotator cuff lifting something awkwardly. I was booked for shoulder surgery to correct the problem but through exercise managed to avoid surgery.

The first thing I had to do was allow my shoulder to rest properly avoiding any of the movements that caused pain. I stopped driving and rearranged my desk at work to help with this. At the same time I treated the pain and inflammation with anti inflammatory drugs.

Then I started some stretches to help bring back the mobility in my shoulder. Several months of not working properly had caused some stiffness.

Next I began a series of exercises designed to stabilise and strengthen  not only the rotator cuff but the whole shoulder. These were low weight, low resistance exercises that gradually built up over a few weeks. Because I had actually torn my rotator cuff it was important to strengthen the other shoulder muscles in order that they could help the injured tendon while it healed. With over twenty muscles involved in moving your shoulder there are plenty to help out as long as you have got them working properly.

It took me a couple of months to get my shoulder back to one hundred percent pain free movement. It would have been much easier to have started exercising my rotator cuff before I tore it. So take my advice, if it's not too late, and start working on your shoulders.