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2012/01/27, 11:34 AM
Over the years I have seen quite a few posts about this type of injury. 8 years ago I damaged my right shoulder badly enough to require surgery. The first few days after surgery were very painful. Recovery time was two months before I was allowed to train lightly. It was 5 months until I was pain free. In physical therapy I was given a set of exercises for rehab that I never stopped doing. I do these every single day that I work out. I think it's worth the effort as a preventative measure. It's not fool proof because I've had bad enough pain in the other shoulder to warrant going to an orthopoedist yesterday to check it out,
First, the most common test for rotator cuff injury is to stand with arms by your side. Raise the bad arm slowly with your thumb pointed down to a position straight above your head. If you experience shoulder pain at about 100 degrees that stays around for a couple of weeks, it is time to go ask the doctor what's up. More on thios later
My daily rotator cuff exercises are as follows. These exercises require very light weight. Do not try to go heavy.
Lay on your back holding a 3 pound dumbbell or a can with your arm bent at the elbow pointinbg straight up. It's not a bad idea to shove a rolled up towel under your shoulder for support. Let the arm fall slowly, perpendicularly to your body until your hand touches the floor.. Then raise it back up slowly to the straight up position. I use 3, 5 and 10 lb dumbbells for all of these exercises and do 3 sets of 20.
Next lay on your side. Put the arm you're laying on out in front of your body at a 90 degree angle. Crook your leg that's on the floor to a 90 degree angle behind you. This prevents rocking and rolling as you do the movement. Next take your arm that is on top and again, bend it at the elbow to 90 degrees. Slowly raise your hand up keeping your elbow tight against your body until the arm is sticking straight up. Tnen lower the hand slowly until it points down toward the floor. 3 sets of 20.
Again, here, lay flat on your back. Take two dumbbells and slowly raise your arms over your head until they touch the floor. Go very slowly. From the floor, raise your arms over your head and then down until they rest on your waist. This is a great range of motion exercise.
Next, use very light dumbbells and stand with your hands by your side. Point your thumb down and keep them pointed down through the entire movement. This movement is like a front dumbbell raise only you don't lift the weights straight out in front. Raise your arms ourward from your body at about a 45 degree angle. Raise them to your waist or slightly above and hold for a few serconds. Then lower them very slowly.
All of these movements isolate the cuff and strengthen it as well as helping maintain good range of motion. KEEP THE WEIGHT LIGHT.
Back to my doctor visit yesterday. First let me say that the pain I am experiencing is only with the thumbs down test I mentioned. I am able to do all of my exercise routines pain free. This is a good reason to practice good form with light weight until it's perfect. The doc said I probably have some damage to the cuff. He is very slow to use the knife so he gave me some anti inflamatories and mild pain killers and said to keep doing what I'm doing. After a day on both, my shoulder is easing up. I still may have sufficient damage to warrant surgeryu but my fingers are crossed. I go back in mid February.
Your rotator cuffs are involved in every upper body exercise. It's worth learning how to protect them. Hope this helps someone.
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