Shoulder and Chest exercises that don’t effect your Rotator Cuff?
Written by Ericka Mortellaro on March 09, 2010 in Rotator cuff exercises
Tags: Chest, Cuff, don't, effect, exercises, Rotator, Shoulder
I reckon i recently hurt my rotator cuff and I’m trying stay off it. But i still want to work out. This may be a dumb question but are there any shoulder and chest exercises that won’t affect my rotator cuff?
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The simple answer is no. The job of the rotator cuff is to turn and stabilize the shoulders when doing any activity. Therefore it is impossible to do any movement that doesn’t in someway impact upon them. Having said that there are movements that can be done with minimal stress upon the rotator cuff. Most injuries to the rotator cuff involve one part or tendon called the supraspinatus. It comes from the Latin meaning above the spine. In this case it means being above the spine of the scapula. The job of this muscle is to abduct the shoulder or to take it away from the body. Since the rotator cuff is one large insertion onto the humerus there might also be a tear or injury in the infraspinatus. So to keep you out of further problems do this. Lie on your side with the injured side up. Place a pillow or rolled up towel between the elbow and ribs. This takes the tension off the cuff. Place the arm across your stomach with the elbow at 90 degrees. Hold a light weight 1 or 2 pounds and slowly raise or rotate the arm until it is rotated as far as it can go. Do this ten times and as the shoulder gets stronger do up to three sets with a minute in between. Next lie on your back and again place the pillow between the ribs and elbow. Place the arm away from the body and if necessary place a pillow or other way to stop the arm from rotating too far. Again with a one or two pound weight bring the arm across the body. Do that ten times. As the shoulder gets stronger you can go up to a total of three sets. There is a last movement but it must be done so that you only use a one pound weight and you cannot go above or to the shoulder level. With the arm at 45 degrees away from the body hold the weight so that your thumb is pointed down. Slowly and I mean slowly raise the arm away from the body. Stop as you come to about 70 degrees from the body. Do this ten times. As the shoulder gets stronger and this could really take up to a year depending on what and how terribly it is involved to heal. The best advice is to see an orthopedist and get with a physical therapist that will show you these movements plus any other necessary movements. To control pain use ice on the area for fifteen minutes. THERE SHOULD NEVER BE ANY PAIN FROM THESE EXERCISES I HAVE GIVEN. IF THERE IS PAIN YOU MUST STOP!!!!