Dom McKay musculoskeletal therapist here to talk to you about rotator cuff
injuries and how to recover from them first off a little lesson on the anatomy
of the rotator cuff the rotator cuff is made up of four muscles which act to
stabilize the shoulder joint they are supraspinatus infraspinatus
subscapularis and teres minor a rotator cuff injury refers to damage to
or inflammation in one or more of these muscles or their tendons now when we
look at an injury to any region we also need to consider other aspects of the
kinetic chain and how they could be potentially influencing movement and
posture and how that could be overloading the injured area of paramount
concern when it comes to any shoulder condition is the degree of kyphosis or
slump in the upper back poor posture in this regard has a dramatic effect on the
function of the shoulder particularly when reaching overhead or when loaded
for example during weight training so taking those factors into account let's
look at some exercises that promote a healthy functional shoulder joint and
rotator cuff first of all if you're in a lot of pain and you haven't had a proper
diagnosis yet then I'd suggest going and doing that to begin with but if you're
just getting niggles or you've been given rotator cuff exercises by another
practitioner and haven't quite done the job then let's try some new ones
this exercise works to strengthen the external rotators of the shoulders and
also connects the kinetic chain between the shoulder and the opposite hip leg
and foot thus improving overall movement and function which will assist in
recovery and prevent further injury to the shoulder notice that the whole body
is involved in the motion repeat 10 to 15 reps for 2 to 3 sets daily for this
exercise you'll need a sturdy anchor point to attach the thera-band to such as
a door handle this exercise works in a similar manner to the last one it also
adds the element of rotation through the spine in order to integrate shoulder
stabilization into slightly more complex movements repeat 10 to 15 reps for 2 to
3 sets daily
this exercise targets supraspinatus muscle and tendon which are the most commonly
aggravated structures in the rotator cuff this can be done using a thera-band
to begin with as your shoulder stabilizers and becomes stronger you can
graduate to a set of dumbbells repeat 10 to 15 reps for 2 to 3 sets daily you'll
notice that two out of three of the exercises I've given you a multiplanar
meaning that they move across multiple planes in one motion there's a really
good reason for choosing exercises like this as opposed to ones that isolate
certain muscle groups and move across a single plane when we simplify our
movements in our rehabilitation we do two things we simplify the movements our
body will allow us to do in daily life and in sporting activities we do not
integrate the movement into the rest of the kinetic chain and thus create
isolated and unnatural biomechanics that could eventually lead to further injury
further to these generalized exercises it's also paramount that you load the
localized tissues in order to stimulate healing when it comes to rehabilitation
a injured rotator cuff it's important to understand that there's going to be a
degree of pain as you load it this is because the only way to recover full
function of your rotator cuff is to gradually load it and the most effective
way of doing that it to load it in the direction of the pain this may sound
counterintuitive but recent research has shown that this is actually what needs
to happen now there are only two rules to this rehabilitation protocol
progressively load in the direction of pain progressively load to an acceptable
level of pain for the individual based on their experience during and after
exercise before you start loading into pain be aware that there are so many
factors that are outside the scope of this video that need to be considered so
my advice would be to seek professional help before you start doing anything
more than just the basic exercises I've in this video there's a link to my
website in the description below I'm happy to answer questions in the
comments subscribe for more great videos and tips thanks for watching