Rotator Cuff Rehab in Just Three Steps

Alright, I know that if you have injured your rotator cuff at the moment the last thing you need is some cheery person being glib about how to fix it, but the truth is that for most of us rotator cuff rehab is really very simple. The only exceptions to that are if you have either managed to acquire a bad tear or what is known as a full thickness tear. If you have then you'll be booking corrective surgery before you start using that shoulder again.

But, as I said, for the majority of us rotator cuff rehab is relatively simple.

The first thing that you need to understand is what kind of injury you have, because when you do, then you can start to understand just how you are going to sort it out.

A rotator cuff injury is an injury to the rotator cuff muscles. These are a group of four muscles that all connect to the shoulder blade at one end and the top of humerus or upper arm at the other. Their job, in the great scheme of things, is to hold the arm in place as you move. Depending on how you move, different muscles within the cuff work harder. Once you get your arm above shoulder height your rotator cuff is working at its hardest to prevent the ball of the arm coming away from the socket of the shoulder joint

Which is why when you injure your rotator cuff it always hurts worst when you raise your arm above shoulder height or reach for something.

the muscles are all grouped closely together forming a cuff of muscle around the shoulder joint to help hold it in place. They run over the surface of the shoulder blade. One of them, called the supraspinatus runs through a channel of bone towards the top of the shoulder blade before attaching to the upper arm.

This tendon causes the most trouble with a rotator cuff injury because when it becomes inflamed and swells up it has nowhere to go so it starts to get trapped or impinged by the bone which leads to further pain and injury. Think of it like a tow rope being rubbed against a hard surface. Sooner or later it will either break or at best start to fray.

So if you want your rotator cuff to heal properly there are really omly three steps.

Step one, rest the muscles to let it heal. That means avoiding any painful movements. Which may involve changing the way that you work for a week or two or even taking some time off.

Step two, work on the the inflammation. Try anti-inflammatory drugs like Ibuprofen and use ice packs whenever you can. If that doesn't worksee if your doctor will give you a steroid injection.

Step three, when the muscle has settled down start a simple course of shoulder specific physical therapy exercises designed to strengthen and rebuild the rotator cuff muscles. These will be small movements with light weights or low resistance that isolate and exercise this small but important group of muscles.

It's quite logical really. Muscles can't heal unless you rest them. Carrying on through a rotator cuff injury will cause more damage. Let the swelling go down before you start exercising and do exercises that strengthen the damaged muscles.

Told you it was simple! I know because that's exactly how I fixed my shoulder.