Can I Exercise with an Injury to the Rotator Cuff?

The rotator cuff is the group of tendons and muscles that make up the shoulder, a ball and socket type joint. The rotator cuff is what enables you to lift your arm over your head, lift it laterally out from your body, and rotate it in a full circular motion. It also helps to keep the arm bone settled exactly where it needs to be in the shoulder socket.

When shoulder pain appears, no matter what age or physical shape you are in, the most likely cause of this pain is an injury to the rotator cuff. The injury may be something as simple as inflammation in the shoulder joint or it may be something as serious as a tendon or ligament that has been completely torn away from the bone. In between may be small tears that will turn into large ones if left unattended…

Once a diagnosis of an injury to the rotator cuff is made, your physician may recommend that you start a physical therapy program that includes exercises. These exercises will be carefully structured to help you to rehabilitate your shoulder. This will include only stretching exercises to start. Strengthening exercises will be added later, but only after you are well on your way to recovery. The important thing to remember is that any overexertion on your part will only result in more damage to the rotator cuff. The recovery process must be slow if it is to be an effective one.

In addition to the prescribed exercises, you will need to rest the shoulder and apply heat and ice alternatively to soothe any pain you might have and reduce swelling and inflammation. Anti-inflammatories may also be used if the pain is unbearable and to help to reduce any swelling and inflammation in the shoulder joint.

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