Your rotator cuff is a group of muscles and tendons that helps hold your shoulder joint together and also helps you rotate and lift your arm. Tears in your cuff can develop gradually over time or occur quickly as a result of a traumatic injury. As part of your rehabilitation from a rotator cuff tear, you will typically perform a variety of exercises designed to restore normal function to your shoulder.
Basics
The four muscles that help form your rotator cuff are the supraspinatus, infraspinatus, teres minor and subscapularis. Tendons associated with these muscles form the rest of the structure. Potential reasons for a rotator cuff tear include repetitive sports-related overhead shoulder motions, repetitive work-related overhead shoulder motions, overuse of the shoulder joint over an extended period of time and sudden physical injury. Depending on your situation, you may partially or completely tear a muscle or tendon in your rotator and undergo surgical or nonsurgical treatment for your injury. Exercise is usually part of a recovery plan in all of these circumstances.
Range-of-Motion Exercises
Rehabilitation for a rotator cuff tear typically begins after a surgical repair or after nonsurgical treatments to reduce pain and inflammation in your injured shoulder. Initially, you will perform mobility exercises designed to restore normal range of motion to your shoulder joint. These may include pendulum exercises, which require you to swing your arm in a gentle circular motion; front shoulder stretches; back shoulder stretches; and aided mobility exercises, which require you to use your uninjured arm to help lift your injured shoulder as high as you can without pain.
Strengthening Exercises
Along with your range-of-motion exercises, you will typically perform exercises designed to strengthen the muscles in your cuff that rotate your arm outward, as well as the muscles that help support your shoulder blade. Exercises used for initial strengthening may include isometric forms of exercises such as lateral rotations, medial rotations and abductions, which you perform against a wall without moving your muscles or shoulder joint. After a few days, you may also perform traditional forms of these same exercises with dumbbells or lengths of rubber tubing called resistance bands.
Functional Exercises and Considerations
Toward the end of your rehabilitation, your doctor or physical therapist will likely ask you to perform exercises designed to prepare you for the specific actions that form part of your everyday life. For athletes, these exercises may include various types of ball throwing drills or resistance band exercises that mimic sports-specific motions. Nonathletes may also perform occupation-specific resistance band exercises. Following surgery, most patients regain the full use of their shoulders in four to six months, according to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Roughly 50 percent of patients recover without the need for surgery.
References
- American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons: Rotator Cuff Tears and Treatment Options
- SportsInjuryClinic.net: Rotator Cuff; Rehabilitation
- University of California San Francisco Medical Center: Rotator Cuff Tear
- SportsInjuryClinic.net: Rotator Cuff; Mobility Exercises
- SportsInjuryClinic.net: Rotator Cuff; Strengthening
- SportsInjuryClinic.net: Rotator Cuff; Functional Exercises
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