injured rotator cuff

[bart]

i recently injured my rotator cuff from training incorrectly(trying to be macho). Can anybody tell me what i need to do to get my shoulder back in shape and get back in the gym as quickly as possible?

[Jean-Paul]

First, I better cover my ass.... Go to a qualified authority on orthopedic injuries and get it x-rayed or examined. If it is torn you will need to have it surgically repaired. You can make it worse by letting it go on injured and untreated. If it is just a sore joint that the doctor says is not seriou then there is a recipe you must know... it is an acronym called RICE. Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation. Rest it for a couple of weeks, apply ice to it after any activity, compress it or wrap it if possible, and keep it above your heart (sleep on your other side). Add an anti-inflammatory and you are on your way. A doctor may prescribe a more powerful one but frankly, I get just as good of results with ibuprofin or alleve. Good luck!

[Master Trainer]

Great advice by our moderator there. Assuming that your primary care provider releases you for physical activity, you must begin to train "shoulder friendly". What you must realize is that during every upper body exercise force production is created in the shoulder girdle that stresses a number of stabalizers muscles including the rotator cuff. To an extent this is a good thing because in stimulates an increase in those muscle's strength and tensile strength of the tendons and ligaments of the inner shoulder. However, the shoulder joint is very succeptable to overtraining injuries due to it's large range of motion and assistance in most upper body exercises. Therefore it is neccessary to take a number of steps to protect and stengthen your shoulders if your planning to resistance train for the long haul. Try the following tips:

(1) Warm up with specific exercises for the lifts your about to preform before stretching always.

(2) Pay special attention to range of motion. During pec flys for example, your upper arm (elbow to shoulder) should never go below parallel with the floor. Further motion than this causes the rotator cuff muscles to be over stretched and loosen the shoulder capsule with no additional benefit to pec training.

(3) No behind the neck shoulder pressing. It is the external rotation of the humerus during this exercise that is detrimental to the shoulder.

(4) Lift with dumbells more often. Using dumbells creates better balance in strength between your two shoulders because unlike when lifting with a barbell, you cannot compensate if one arm is stronger than the other.

(5) Specifically strengthen your rotator cuff and other inner shoulder muscles weekly. One day per week, either after your chest or shoulder workout, do a couple of exercises (4-6 sets) that strengthen specifically the rotator cuff.

(6) Orient your weekly workout split to protect your shoulder. Especially if you train one body part, once per week (as in typical body building), put your chest and shoulder at opposite ends of the week with at least two days of rest between each. During these days, you stess the shoulder joint most and must give those muscles time to rest before using them again intensely.

(7) Practice pinning your shoulder blades together during all upper body exercises, especially pressing and back rows. This essentially "locks" the scapula and the humerus into the safest position for lifting not to mention can help give you a better squeeze on your back exercises.