The shoulder is a complex ball-and-socket joint that offers your body multiple ranges of motion. It can be elevated, rotated, moved forward or moved backward. These movements make it possible to throw balls, lift weights and pitch horseshoes. When the muscles around the shoulder joint get injured, you can perform specific exercises to regain the shoulder's range of motion.
Function
The muscles that surround the shoulder are known by the acronym SITS, which stands for supraspinatus, infraspinatus, teres minor and subscapularis. These muscles form the rotator cuff. Excessive throwing or taking a sharp hit can cause the rotator cuff muscles to become torn or damaged. Corrective exercises can help strengthen the muscles and prevent future injury.
Resistance
Because the rotator cuff is a delicate group of muscles, light resistance is used with exercises. Light dumbbells, soup cans and resistance bands are examples. Resistance bands come in the form of flat, elastic bands or tube-shaped chords that get fastened to stationary objects and pulled in various directions.
Rotation Exercises
Internal and external rotations are common shoulder-injury exercises, both of which are done with dumbbells or resistance bands. Resistance bands get wrapped around a doorknob or pole and the end of the band gets wrapped around the hand. To do internal rotations, the upper arm is pinned to the side while the lower arm is out at an angle toward the door or pole. The lower arm then rotates inward across the stomach. External rotations are done with the band in the other hand. With this exercise, the lower arm starts in front of the stomach and rotates outward. Both of these exercises can be done from a side-lying position on a bench with a dumbbell.
Horizontal Rotations
Horizontal rotations are done from a standing position with light dumbbells or weight plates. To do these exercises, the upper arms are lifted and leveled to the ground, with the elbows bent 90 degrees and the weights hanging down. While the upper arms stay still, the lower arms rotate upward until the palms face forward. The weights are slowly lowered and the exercise is repeated.
Technique
When doing internal and external rotations, it is important to keep the upper arm tight to the body at all times. This will not only ensure proper form, but it will also prevent further injury. To make sure this happens, a rolled up towel, newspaper or magazine gets placed under the armpit. The idea is to do the exercise and not let the object fall.
Expert Insight
When you do corrective shoulder exercises, only work to the point of discomfort. If you do too much too fast, you will risk further injury. Keep going to the point where you just start to feel pain and stop. Every workout, keep going to this point and slighter further, until you have a full range of motion without pain. Once you can do this, start to incorporate other shoulder exercises into your routine, such as lateral and front raises to strengthen the deltoids found on the sides of the shoulders.
