A Rotator Cuff Rehabilitation Exercise
By Steve Silverman
The rotator cuff is a series of four small muscles that surround the shoulder. Over the course of time, many individuals damage one or more of the muscles. The damage can occur through sports competition, by reaching for a common household appliance or without explanation. The rotator cuff muscles often respond well to exercise, which is a better alternative than surgery.
Instructions
Difficulty: Moderately Easy
Take a 24-inch exercise band and hold it in front of you with both hands at shoulder height. Pull the band about 12 inches toward the outside of your shoulders with both hands. Hold the stretch for a count of three then return to your original position. Do this 10 times. Repeat the set of 10 stretches.
Shrug your shoulders while holding a 5-pound dumbbell in each hand. Your hands should be down and below waist level. Shrug your shoulders up and hold for a count of three then release. Do this 10 times. Repeat the set of 10 shrugs
Sit on an exercise ball and find your balance point. Hold a 3-pound dumbbell in each hand. Curl the dumbbell in your right hand up to your shoulder then return to the original position. Repeat the curl with your left hand. Do 10 curls with each hand, take a 30-second break and repeat the set.
Take the exercise band in your right hand and place your hand by your side. Place the other end of the band under your right foot. Lift your right hand to the middle of your rib cage then return it to the original position. Do 10 lifts. Move the exercise band to your left hand, placing the other end under your left foot. Do 10 lifts on your left side.
Lay down on a bench or the floor if you don't have a bench. Take a long push broom and hold it at chest level as if you were going to do a bench press with a weight. Lift the push broom about 18 inches above your chest. Return it to its original position. Repeat the lift 10 times.
Tips & Warnings
The rotator cuff muscles are small and you do not have to use heavy weights to strengthen them.
About The Author
Steve Silverman is an award-winning writer, covering sports since 1980. Silverman authored The Minnesota Vikings: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly and Who's Better, Who's Best in Football -- The Top 60 Players of All-Time, among others, and placed in the Pro Football Writers of America awards three times. Silverman holds a Master of Science in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism.
