Shoulder Pain
When people think of shoulder injuries, the terms “rotary cup”, “rotator cup”, “rotary girder”, often get used in place of the term rotator cuff. This is often confused for a single muscle, but in reality, it is actually 4 separate muscles that work together to stabilize the shoulder during all activities.
Anatomy
The four muscles that make up the rotator cuff are the supraspinatus, infraspinatus, teres minor, and subscapularis. These muscles surround the glenohumeral (shoulder) joint. Because this joint is a ball-and-socket joint, it allows for a greater range of motion but lacks a high amount of stability. This means that the rotator cuff has to constantly work to stabilize the shoulder during all activities.
Shoulder Anatomy
What is Causing My Pain?
Because of the potential for a greater range of motion of the shoulder joint, this can lead to a multitude of different causes of shoulder pain. This can range from muscle tightness, muscle weakness, inflammation, or muscle injury.
Are There Any General Activities That Can Help My Pain?
Our philosophy at Elevate Performance is to individualize our therapy to fit your needs. However, here are a few ideas to get you started. If you are in severe pain or suspect significant injury, please schedule an appointment with your physician or appropriate medical professional.
If you have mild to moderate pain and are able to perform most of your daily activities, range of motion and strengthening activities can provide some benefits to your overall health of your shoulder joint/rotator cuff.
Range of Motion
A good exercise to regain range of motion of your shoulder joint is assisted movement with a cane or yardstick. You will place the hand of the affected arm at the top, and use your pain-free arm to push the stick up at a 45 degree angle. This can be performed for 2 sets of 15-20 repetitions, 4 times a week.
Start Position
End Position
Strength
Most of the population has good strength of the major muscles of the shoulder; however, the rotator cuff is often neglected due to the small size of the musculature. A good exercise to regain strength of your rotator cuff is shoulder external rotation with a band. This can be performed for 2 sets of 15-20 repetitions, 3-4 times a week.
External Rotation Start Position
External Rotation End Position