Speed up your recovery with two rotator cuff rehab exercises

Rotator Cuff Rehab Exercises

Are you feeling a dull ache deep in your shoulder? Does lying on the affected shoulder cause your pain to increase? If you answered yes to these questions, you probably have a rotator cuff injury.

The rotator cuff is a group of muscles and tendons in the shoulder, and its job is to rotate and raise your arm. Rotator cuff injuries often happen to people who do lots of overhead movements. This means baseball pitchers, painters and tennis players are at greater risk of developing such an injury. Physical therapists can help you find exercises and other therapies to speed up your rotator cuff rehab, and there are two exercises that are especially useful for people with rotator cuff injuries. 

1.  Passive external rotation

When you first injure your rotator cuff, you’ll need to rest your shoulder. This gives your body a chance to start healing your injury. However, people also need to balance rest and movement to help their shoulder heal as fast as possible. Physical therapists can show you how to perform passive exercises that help balance these two needs, and one passive rotator cuff exercise they might prescribe is passive external rotation.

How to perform the passive external rotation exercise

  • You’ll need a yardstick or short dowel rod to do this exercise.
  • Grasp the stick with the affected hand and hold it horizontally in front of you; cup the end of the stick with the other hand. 
  • Push on the end of the stick with your unaffected hand until you feel a stretch in the affected shoulder. Keep the elbow of the affected arm against your side during this movement. 
  • Hold the stretch for 30 seconds. 

 

2.  Sleeper stretch

After your healing progresses a bit, therapists will start adding more active exercises and stretches to your rotator cuff rehab plan. An example of such an active stretch they might include in your plan is the sleeper stretch. 

How to perform the sleeper stretch

  • Lie on your affected side on a bed; your injured shoulder should be under you. Use a pillow to support your head.
  • Bend the affected forearm upward so that it forms a 90-degree angle with your palm facing your feet. 
  • Use your unaffected hand to slowly push the affected arm down toward the bed. 
  • Stop when you feel a stretch in the back of your shoulder. 
  • Hold this stretch for 20 to 30 seconds. 
  • Relax your arm and rest for 30 seconds; then repeat these steps until you’ve stretched your shoulder three times.

Excel Sports & Physical Therapy offers rehab exercises and other treatments for rotator cuff injuries

Rotator cuff injuries can be painful to live with, but rotator cuff exercises and other rehab options from Excel Sports & Physical Therapy can help reduce your pain. We can get you started with a free screening. Our team will then build you an individualized treatment plan, and this plan could make use of therapy techniques like: 

Contact our team today for more information about our treatment options or to schedule an initial appointment.