Rotator Cuff Injury? - Therapy Can Heal You Naturally

Before jumping into surgery, take some time to educate yourself on all your options. In some cases, a rotator cuff injury can be healed naturally through physical therapy, without the need for surgery or other intrusive measures.

A little over a year ago at the time of this writing, I noticed a dull ache in my right shoulder. The pain was magnified whenever I lifted my arm above my head. I'm very physically active in weight lifting and martial arts, so I figured I just had a strained muscle and the pain would go away on it's own. It didn't. It got progressively worse to the point where I had to take medical action.

Instead of surgery, I opted to go with a rotator cuff therapy program. It was slow going at first, but after 7 months I was 90% pain free. I'm happy to say that over a year later I am now 100% pain free and have full use of my shoulder and arm again.

Keep in mind that the rotator cuff is comprised of an intricate combination of small muscles and connective tissues. Any rotator cuff exercises must be done slowly and with light resistance or else you run the risk of aggravating your injury. There is definitely a right way and a VERY WRONG way to do this.

When researching the various rotator cuff therapy programs, don't be tempted to follow the advice of someone who has healed their shoulder through self discovery. They may have been successful, but such an approach is too risky to try and imitate. Only follow a program that has been developed by a medical professional who specializes in rotator cuff injuries.

Rotator Cuff Physical Therapy Exercises

Do you want to get rid of that irritating shoulder pain? Suffering from shoulder injury? That can be healer when you exercise your cuffs. Here are five effective rotator cuff exercises that can help strengthen your shoulder muscles. A word of warning though, if these exercises cause you pain then you must stop immediately.

The rotator cuff exercises are widely advantageous to people who are suffering shoulder injury. It can also be used by people who experience muscle and tendon problems in their shoulders such as the normal wear and tear and deterioration. Such exercise will prevent rotator cuff tendonitis or soreness of the shoulders; it can also prevent you to go under the needle, and will eventually heal your shoulders naturally. Remember to do some warm up exercise for about five minutes.

There are two divisions of rotator cuff exercise - stretching and strengthening. The stretching exercise increases the mobility and rage of motion while also improving your blood circulation which helps in the overall healing of your shoulders. It is recommended that you do the stretching exercises first before going to strengthening exercises.

Do some stretching exercise at least eights times per day. Stretching exercises such as the Posterior Stretch, Overhead Stretch, and Forward Wall Climb can help you progress in your stretching exercises. While strengthening exercises such as the Wall Push Ups and Light Weight Lifting will rebuild your muscle strength.

The Posterior Stretch is for shoulder back stretches. Pull on the elbow of the injured arm and pull it as far as you reach. You can feel the stretch in your upper back as you do this. When you feel the stretch, hold the positive for five seconds then release. Repeat the stretching twice.

The Overhead Stretch works for both shoulders. You have to bend your body at the waist to a 90 degree angle then stretch both shoulders. Hold that position for about 15 seconds then repeat if desired.

In the Forward Wall Climb, you face a wall and extend your arms by walking your fingers up and down the wall. You should attempt to go higher whenever your fingers climb the wall. Go as far as you reach, stop when you feel the pain.

For strengthening exercise, you can do the Wall Push Ups. This strengthens area both in and out of the rotator cuffs, which is very important. It is done vertically instead of the normal push-ups. You can gradually vary your push-up positions as your shoulder strength also improves. Choose from either of these positions -countertop, couch arm, and floor pushups.

Light weight lifting can also be done. Use light weights and do repetitions beginning at 15 repetitions then as you gradually improve your strengthening workout you can go to 25 repetitions.

Make sure to consult your doctor before engaging in any rotator cuff exercises particularly after experiencing a shoulder injury. There are more rotator cuff exercises available online that you can readily follow.

Rotator Cuff Injury Exercises

Are you experiencing shoulder pain? Maybe you've been diagnosed with a rotator cuff injury and possibly even a tear. Or maybe you've just been experiencing a pain in your shoulder that you were hoping would just go away but it hasn't yet. What are your options? Is there a way to naturally heal your rotator cuff? Here are some shoulder injury exercises and tips that, when performed a certain way, can help you heal your shoulder... hopefully without surgery or other intrusive methods.

Improve circulation
Because the shoulder/rotator cuff is a series of small muscles and tendons it receives very little blood supply. Strengthening and stretching exercises increase circulation which promotes healing. Other ways to improve blood flow are through applying heat and massage.

Dealing with pain
Icing will help with the pain, especially right before bedtime. 20-30 minute sessions, as many times per day as needed.

Strengthening exercises
The rotator cuff is a complex series of small muscles, tendons and bones. These muscles respond best to higher reps and lower weight. Reps should be higher... in the 12-15 rep range to start. As your shoulder gets stronger, eventually the reps can reach the 20-25 rep range.

Instead of trying to explain these exercises, I suggest visiting this web site that has many clear pictures and good descriptions of each exercise. You can find them at http://familydoctor.org/handouts/265.html.

Get on a proper healing program
The good news is yes, you can heal your shoulder if you follow the proper rotator cuff injury exercises. But randomly performing a set of exercises from the internet without the detailed instruction of an expert in shoulder rehabilitation will probably make your injury worse. It's important that these exercises are performed in a specific way and a specific order depending on the extent of your injury.

Rotator Cuff Exercises

Have you ever experienced a dull ache or sharp pain in your shoulder or upper arm? Maybe you are unable to sleep on one side because your shoulder wakes you up at night. Perhaps, you have discomfort reaching behind your back to tuck in your shirt or grab your wallet. If so, you may be suffering from a rotator cuff injury.

Rotator cuff injuries, such as tendonitis, bursitis and tears plague several people in our population. The rotator cuff consists of four small muscles, which form a sleeve around the shoulder and allow us to raise our arm overhead effectively. These muscles, consisting of the supraspinatus, infraspinatus, teres minor and subscapularis, oppose the action of the deltoid and depress the head of the humerus (upper arm) during shoulder elevation to prevent impingement.

The most commonly injured muscle is the supraspinatus. It is responsible for initiating and aiding in elevation of the arm. If torn, the individual typically experiences persistent pain in the upper lateral arm and significant difficulty raising the arm without compensatory motion from the scapula (shrug sign). The hallmark signs of a tear are nocturnal pain, loss of strength, and inability to raise the arm overhead.

However, acute tendonitis may also present with similar signs and symptoms, as pain can inhibit motion and strength. Yet, symptoms associated with tendonitis normally respond to rest, ice, anti-inflammatory medication and therapeutic exercise.

Rotator cuff tears are most common in men age 65 and older. Tears and/or injury are typically related to degeneration, instability, bone spurs, trauma, overuse and diminished strength/flexibility related to the aging process. However, youth are also at risk for injury if they are involved in repetitive overhead sports, including swimming, volleyball, baseball, softball, tennis, gymnastics, etc.

Many people can function adequately with a torn rotator cuff provided they have a low to moderate pain level. The primary reason for performing rotator cuff surgery is to alleviate pain rather than to restore function. It is common for post surgical patients to lose some mobility/range of motion. Strength recovery is dictated by the size of tear, quality of the torn tissue at the time of surgery, time elapsed between injury and repair, and the surgeon’s ability to recreate the proper anatomical relationship.

It may take up to 18 months following surgery to completely recover, although most people return to normal activities of daily living in 3-6 months. On the contrary, tendonitis usually resolves within 4-6 weeks, depending on the management of the injury.

The key to avoiding rotator cuff injury is performing adequate rotator cuff exercises prior to stressing it with vigorous activities. Many weekend warriors try to pick up the softball, baseball, football, etc. and begin throwing repetitively and forcefully without properly warming up. In addition, they are not likely to condition before the season like competitive athletes.

This often leads to excessive strain on the rotator cuff and swelling. The inevitable result is soreness, especially with overhead movement or reaching behind the back. The act of throwing is the most stressful motion on the shoulder. The rotator cuff is forced to decelerate the humerus during follow through at speeds up to 7000 degrees/second.

Without proper strength and rotator cuff exercises, the shoulder easily becomes inflamed.
Since the rotator cuff muscles are small, it is best to utilize lower resistance and higher repetitions to sufficiently strengthen them. Sample rotator cuff exercises include theraband or light dumbbell external and internal rotation exercises, which can be performed at various degrees of abduction.

Other common rotator cuff exercises include forward elevation to shoulder height in the plane of the scapula (scaption), press-ups, prone dumbbell horizontal abduction with external rotation, and diagonal arm patterns with bands, weights or medicine balls. In addition to cuff specific exercises, it is also important to strengthen the muscles around the shoulder blade. These exercises include wall push-ups with a plus (rounding shoulder blades), shrugs, rows and lower trapezius rotator cuff exercises.

Finally, it is important to note some precautions with general exercises routinely performed in health clubs. I recommend the following suggestions to prevent rotator cuff problems:

• Avoid lat pull downs and military presses behind the head, as they place the shoulder in a poor biomechanical position encouraging impingement.

• Do not lower the bar or dumbbells below parallel with incline/flat bench press for the aforementioned reason.

• Refrain from using too much weight with lateral shoulder raises. This exercise increases the load on the shoulder to 90% of the body weight, so there is no need to use heavy weight. It is best to maintain an arc of movement slightly in front of the body with lateral raises to decrease stress on the rotator cuff, while avoiding elevation above 90 degrees.

• Specific rotator cuff exercises can be incorporated into upper body workouts. Perform 2 sets of 15-25 repetitions for each exercise. These rotator cuff exercises should be done no more than three times per week to avoid overtraining.