Rotator cuff tears are common among adults. Your rotator cuff enables your arm to rotate and also helps lift your arm. Some tears are the result of a single injury, but most of the time tears are the result of overuse, reports the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Active isolated strengthening exercises can help you regain rotator cuff strength, flexibility and function.
Identification
Your rotator cuff consists of a network of several tendons as well as four muscles. These form a covering around your humerus, or upper arm bone. Most of the time, tears affect your supraspinatus muscle. However, other parts of your rotator cuff may be injured such as the teres minor, infraspinatus or subscapularis muscles. You need to pinpoint where your injury is before you can perform isolation exercises to rehabilitate it. That's why it's important to consult a doctor before you begin any active isolated strengthening exercises.
Effects
Preserving range of motion is important when you suffer a rotator cuff injury. Isolated flexibility exercises help preserve your range of motion, while isolated strengthening exercises improve function, says Kevin E. Wilk, author of "The Athlete's Shoulder." Inactivity is likely to cause stiff joints and can even lead to frozen shoulder, meaning your shoulder gets so stiff that you can barely move it.
Isolated Stretching
The Mattes Method is often used for active isolated stretching of an injured area. This method gently strengthens the area at the same time. To perform Mattes Method exercises, you put the injured muscle into the position where it's most relaxed. You then contract the muscle and guide it through its proper range of motion. At the end point of the contraction, you have a partner gently stretch the muscle with no more than 1 lb. pressure and for no more than three seconds before providing a controlled movement to return the isolated muscle from the stretch and then to its relaxed state. You can do eight to 10 repetitions. Once you've regained full range of motion, you can proceed to active isolated exercises that focus more on strengthening, notes sports medicine physician Taras V. Kochno of Bradenton, Florida.
Isolated Strengthening
As you move on to more intense isolated strengthening exercises, stretching remains important as a warm-up. After your stretch, you'll perform isolated strengthening exercises such as the internal rotation exercise. To do this, hold a resistance band in the hand of your injured arm and attach the other end to a doorknob. Stand near the door so that your injured shoulder faces the door and your non-injured shoulder faces away from it. Bend the elbow on your injured side to 90 degrees and keep your arm at your side. Now rotate your hand so it comes toward your abdomen, then return to your starting position. Perform this exercise slowly.
Considerations
Even if your injury is slight, it's important to perform active isolated strengthening exercises to shore your rotator cuff area up. Athletes who need to throw frequently, like baseball players, rarely suffer full-thickness rotator cuff tears, but partial tears are common. When you don't take care of a partial tear it can turn into a full tear. After you've healed, using daily shoulder stretches along with a shoulder-strengthening program helps to prevent re-injury.
Expert Insight
After performing active isolated stretching and strengthening exercises, you need to ice your rotator cuff area for 20 minutes. Plastic bags with ice or bags of frozen peas work better than gel packs. In general, you should perform your exercises three to five times a week to regain strength and flexibility in your rotator cuff area. However, it's important to follow your doctor's directives for which exercises to perform and how often to do them.
References
- Brown University: Shoulder Injury Rehabilitation Exercises--Rotator Cuff Tear
- "The Athlete's Shoulder"; Kevin E. Wilk, et al; 2008
- American Academy of Family Physicians: Rotator Cuff Exercises
- American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons: Rotator Cuff Tears
- MayoClinic.com: Rotator Cuff Injury Lifestyle and Home Remedies
- Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation: Active Isolated Stretching
