| Now, having read the title, don't reach for the | | | | any swelling of the muscles restricts their |
| gym bag and rush off to lift some weights | | | | movement, causing impingement or pinching which |
| because that is not the sort of shoulder exercise | | | | results in the sharp pain associated with this type |
| that I am talking about. Lifting weights with an | | | | of injury. |
| injured shoulder will only end in disaster. You could | | | | If you ignore this pain and continue to exercise a |
| turn a relatively minor injury into something | | | | rotator cuff injury you will simply end up |
| requiring surgery and months of recuperation. | | | | damaging the tendons of the muscles even more, |
| Your shoulder is a very complex piece of natural | | | | possibly to the extent that one of them snaps |
| engineering. Three bones, arm, shoulder blade and | | | | leaving you in need of corrective surgery. |
| collar bone and seventeen different muscles, not | | | | Consequently it is important to start any therapy |
| to mention cartilage and ligaments that all help to | | | | by letting the muscles heal, restricting the |
| hold the joint together and give us the wide range | | | | movement and treating the inflammation to |
| of movement that we enjoy. The rotator cuff | | | | relieve the pressure. This can be done with |
| itself is made up of four muscles all of which run | | | | anti-inflammatory drugs such as Ibuprofen or |
| from the scapula(shoulder blade) to the | | | | even steroid injections. |
| humerus(arm bone). These muscles pull the head | | | | Th exercise stage of treating a cuff injury starts |
| of the humerus into the socket of the shoulder | | | | with very gentle exercises aimed at this specific |
| joint. Because the socket is so shallow, without | | | | group of muscles. Little or no weight to start with |
| them we would find our shoulder slipping out of | | | | and even as the muscles start to build up the |
| joint whenever we tried lifting anything or put it | | | | weight will be minimal. We all tend to neglect this |
| under any strain. The rotator cuff really starts | | | | group of muscles, certainly as we age and |
| working hard when we lift anything above | | | | become less active, and it does not take a great |
| shoulder height, reach out or reach behind us as | | | | deal of exercise to wake them up and get them |
| these are the movements that put the shoulder | | | | working properly again. |
| joint under the most stress. This is why, when | | | | Shoulder exercise can often focus on the main |
| you injure these muscles, it hurts most when you | | | | muscles of the shoulders such as the trapezius. |
| try any of these movements. | | | | These are the last muscles that we want to |
| Your rotator cuff muscles are also very closely | | | | work on with a cuff injury. Focus on the small |
| connected running over and across each other | | | | muscles of the rotator cuff and you will quickly |
| and the bones of the shoulder to form the cuff | | | | restore pain free movement to your shoulder and |
| of muscle that surrounds the shoulder and gives | | | | will almost inevitably strengthen your shoulder |
| this group of muscles their name. Because of this, | | | | against future injuries. |