Rotator ROTATOR CUFF – gym injury, causes and cures
Are you worried about a rotator cuff injury?
Senior physio Keith has decades of experience helping professional and amateur sports people with injuries and performance. He wanted to show off our hi-tech interactive white boards and how we use them to help explain what is going on in your body. For instance when your shoulder feels out of sorts!
The rotator cuff is a group of muscles and tendons inside your shoulder. Watch the video to see this explained in detail. And below the video is an outline transcript if you prefer to read what Keith says.
If you are a regular gym bunny or your job means lots of shoulder press-style movements , then you are more likely to end up with some grief in your rotator cuff. And sadly, as we age, the rotator cuff is more likely to suffer an injury or trauma.
Typical symptoms include a dull ache in your shoulder, pain when you try to brush your hair and weakness in the arm. Don’t be surprised if it interferes with a good night’s sleep too.
Exercises and preventative measures can restore full health to this part of your shoulder. We can help with this and get you back to doing the things you love. If you think you may have torn your rotator cuff we urge you to see advice and attention asap.
What is The Rotator Cuff
So you have been advised that you have damaged your rotator cuff in the gym. Keith says:
Everybody bandies around the term “rotator cuff”!
Let’s just have a look quickly at what it is.
What Muscles Are We Talking About
The rotator cuff really, as well as the actual joint capsule, comprises of four muscles. The four muscles are the supraspinatus muscle, the infraspinatus muscle, teres minor muscle, and the subscapularis muscle. That group of muscles forms a cuff around the shoulder, allowing the shoulder to rotate. Surprisingly enough that is why it is called the rotator cuff.
How Does The Gym Affect The Shoulder
At the moment when you have been in the gym; if you have been doing a lot of press like activity, it tends to pull your shoulder forward and allows the shoulder blade/the scapula to come round and turn down a little bit. That blocks movement elsewhere and you get a nip or some kind of impingement; that irritation is preventing you from training the way you want to.
Curing Rotator Cuff Pain
So part of the thing we will do is to take away the pain in certain locations; eg where you have rounded a little bit. We will get the muscles working between the shoulder blades which are important as they will help to pull the shoulder blades together and up a little bit. This will help take the pressure off the front of the shoulder.
Next Steps
Find your nearest True Physio clinic here and get booked in for some professional advice. If you have further comments or queries please leave them below and we’ll get back you.
