Tow Rope

April 4th, 2009 admin Leave a comment Go to comments

Tow Rope

Rotator Cuff Strengthening Exercises can fix a busted shoulder

You'll probably be surprised to find out that nearly all shoulder injuries can be fixed by just exercise and rotator cuff problems are no different. Hang on a minute, before you rush out and start lifting weights read on because the wrong exercises can make a torn rotator cuff much worse. How you treat it depends on how bad the injury is and how you did it in the first place . Now don't get upset about this at this but just for a minute lets think of your shoulder tendons as bits of old tow rope. Imagine that this particular rope has simply become worn through overuse. It may be getting a bit frayed in the middle. Another tow rope may have been used to pull something that was just too heavy and in the process may have been stretched too far or even snapped.

Beginning to get the picture? Depending on how you damaged the tendons in the first place the injury could be different and may suggest a different kind of treatments. If you have managed to Tear a tendon right through|snap a tendon} you are almost definitely looking at surgery before you can recover. If it has simply become frayed you might well get away with just exercise and no surgery. The majority of rotator cuff injuries can be solved with exercise but before you start any programme you need to let the muscles heal which means resting and treating the swelling. This may be ice and compression treatment, anti-inflammatory drugs such as Ibuprofen or Steroid injections. Once the tendons have mended you can then start on rotator cuff strengthening exercises to restore the strength and movement in your joint.

Your rotator cuff muscles are very small but also very important muscles. Because they are small the exercises to build them up will be using either no weights or very small ones and even as they get stronger you won't be using any great reistance with these muscles. They are designed to hold the top of the arm into the socket of your shoulder. Because the joint is a very shallow ball and socket joint it would be quite easy to dislocate so these muscles help to pull the shoulder together and form a cuff around the shoulder to stabilize and protect it. They are put under the most strain when you reach above your head, behind you or reach for something, throwing something and so it is when you do the same movements that you get pain if you have damaged them. If you've torn your rotator cuff I bet you find it hard to tuck your trousers in or scratch the top of your head.

Rotator cuff strengthening exercises avoid these movements and instead will focus on easy movements that gradually build up the muscles again. These are some of the least looked after|most neglected} muscles on the body. We take them for granted all the time until we injure them. The good news is that with the right exercises you can recover from a shoulder injury in around six weeks and be completely pain free. The wrong exercises and you can damage them more and be looking at expensive surgery and a long recovery time.
About the Author

If you found this article interesting check out my full story at
www..myrotatorcuffcure.blogspot.com

My name is Nick Bryant and I tore my rotator cuff lifting something that was too heavy. Despite being told that I needed surgery I have fully recovered with just exercise. Check out one of my other articles on my torn rotator cuff