An inside look at the muscles of the rotator cuff.
Severe pain around the top, front, and side of the shoulder is quite common and can often be traced to problems in the Rotator Cuff, the group of muscles surrounding the shoulder joint. In this article, you will learn about this delicate muscular collection and discover important steps toward healing your shoulder pain.
The shoulders are perhaps the most overused and under-cared-for joints in the body. They are essential in the performance of everyday activities such as typing, driving, reaching, lifting, etc, but also take a lot of strain in more strenuous activities like tennis, weight lifting, rowing and other sports.
Rotator Cuff Basics
The four muscles of the rotator cuff wrap around the arm bone, attaching it to the bones of the shoulder and holding it in the hollow of the joint.
The rotator cuff plays a key role in all movements at the head of the arm bone. It helps lift the arm forward, pull it back, lift it to the side, and circle it all the way around. When a pitcher winds up to send the ball over the plate, the rotator cuff is what gives him the control to follow through with force.
The repetition of daily tasks can cause limited range of motion, as well as a hardening and shortening of the muscles in the complex structure of the shoulder, which can lead damage and inflammation. Going from everyday repetition to the demands of sports takes an even greater toll on the rotator cuff.
Understanding the Common Problems of/associated with the Rotator Cuff
Think of these muscles like the cuff of your shirt. Ideally, the rotator cuff muscles should be supple and pliable, allowing the arm to move in the socket with ease.
However, these muscles are often either over-used or tight from inactivity and the cuff becomes more like a stiff t-shirt. In this condition, the rotator muscles can easily become frayed or even torn through repetitive motions or sudden movements. They can also become irritated by rubbing against the bones of the shoulder. In these conditions, inflammation is virtually inevitable, which can severely inhibit motion, even to the point of preventing it altogether, causing a condition known as Frozen Shoulder.
The road to recovery: Steps to a Healthy Shoulder
The first step is to give your shoulder a break—playing or working through the pain will only lead to further injury. Your first priority is to remove inflammation from the muscles of the rotator cuff by applying the RICE treatment (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation) along with pain and/or anti-inflammatory medications. Removing inflammation will help relax the muscle, which accomplishes three objectives:
1.Relaxed muscles occupy less space and therefore there is less chance of abrasion of the tendons and muscles on the bones of the shoulder joint.
2.The relaxed muscle exerts less pull on the irritated tendons and therefore less pain.
3.Relaxed muscles allow greater circulation of blood and nutrients and therefore give the damaged tissues greater efficiency in healing and a speedy recovery.
Although the treatment options following this vary, the most important thing is restoring resiliency to the muscles and keep them from pulling the rotator cuff into further damage. Self-massage of the rotator cuff muscles using Yoga Tune Up® Therapy Balls and the accompanying Rotator Cuff Series can be a great help. For strengthening and stretching exercises check out the Yoga Tune Up® Shoulder Quick-Fix Video.
The muscles of the Rotator Cuff are delicate, complex, and prone to injury, however with a little maintenance, and a regular exercise and massage routine, you can have healthy shoulders for life!
[...] watch the full Yoga Tune Up Shoulder Quickfix Video here. In addition, I’ve just posted a great article that gives even more information about Rotator Cuff injuries and shoulder [...]
thanks !! very helpful post!
thank you for sharing this!
Extremely interesting blog post thank you for sharing I have added your site to my bookmarks and will be back.
I must say, I enjoy reading your site. Maybe you could let me know how I can bookmark it ? Also just thought I would tell you I found your page through yahoo.
Do you have videos showing where to place the massage balls to heal the injured rotator cuff muscles?
My godfather is in his 60s and has cleaned pools for a living for many many years. Thus, he has chronic and acute pains in his shoulders. I’m excited to show him this site, as it will provide him with more tools for healing.
A great window into the everyday actions that impact our rotator cuff. Even as I type, I can bring conscious awareness to the suprasipinatus, originating from the ventral surface of the scapula, inserting at the lesser tuberosity of the humeral head. No longer can I shrug my shoulders without realizing its interconnectness to accessory muscles, like the trapezius and deltoids. Really good reminder to use the Yoga Tune Up (R) balls to massage this part of the body.
Following the thread for rotator cuffs. Another, very informative blog. Thanks, Jeffrey.
good information and reminder of how important it is to to create awareness for your Rotator Cuff wether it is in poses like Downward dog or through the use of your Yoga tune up balls.
Yoga Tune Up Shoulder Link video is incredibly helpful in this regard. I am particularly interested in how things get more complicated when the usual DOMs in the shoulders are compounded by a torque or twisted motion in bad movement, which is the problem I’m having.
I found this to be extremely helpful in the contraction of the infraspinatus and in the triceps. I often compress my rotator cuff in chaterunga and this article helps me to create space and be more aware of my body. I feel that as I relaxed the muscle in these poses it exerts less pull on the irritated tendons and i suffer less from pain. Informative!!
I had my right shoulder scoped 4 years ago and am always interested in reading informative articles on how to keep my shoulders heatlhy and active.
I learned a lot from watching the shoulder quick-fix video. I will be adding these moves to my life.
I had frozen shoulder for 2 years. And I still hadn’t regained the full range of motion. I realize now that my joints are hyper mobile and lacks stability. That is why doing the daily routine of exercise is crucial for maintaining the shoulder health. I use Yoga Tune UP Shoulder shape up DVD all the time. I am confident that I will soon regain full range of motion. But the best part of all this is, I gained so much awareness and intelligence because of my injury.
Having had a fantastic scoliosis, dislocated shoulder (no, not Yoga – diving), I have been working those shoulders (and still am).
Use it or loose it. Good to see and encouragement to work the shoulders intelligently. Many opt of just waiting…. and waiting, and waiting… and gathering more and more fuzz in their fascia.
This is important information about the biomechanics of the shoulder and how to treat a rotator cuff injury. I find that I don’t want to wait with RICE and other anti-inflamation techniques. And yet when my shoulder injury gets cranky it is exactly what I need to do before I start to move again or even to use therapy balls. Thanks for the thorough description of how this works. PS After the inflamation is down, YTU® and the therapy balls are the very best remedy for me.
Helpful article it seems every other person I’ve met over the age of 40 has some experience with rotater cuff injury,
and I think creating flexibilty and strength is the key… too many times people are doing one or the other , the weight lifter who
builds his biceps and pecs and turns around yet cant extend his elbow and develops adhesions around the elbow joint
or the yogi who does vinyasa focusing on flow and extension with out eccentric strenghtening
about a year ago i injured my shoulder… my practice has b=since changed dramatically. thanks for the info!
You will always met someone who has a rotator cuff problem. After experiencing the YTU Balls and the rotator cuff series, I this would truly be a great way to correct problems and aid in the healing process.
R.I.C.E! YAAAY! It’s sooo easy. And cheap too!
When aggravated or moderately injured, the body will heal itself if given the proper environment. Practicing the first Astanga series or doing vinyasa flow while ignoring pain signals from the shoulder is not so great for joint longevity. Ice and rest and conscientiously limiting arm movement while the area is inflamed will exponentially increase the body’s ability to heal itself.
As a Health and Nutrition Coach who specializes in reducing chronic inflammation in the body, it is a joyous moment to hear the old R.I.C.E. get trotted out in a rotator cuff injury discussion! Many of us have heard the acronym but perhaps can’t recall that it simply means Rest Ice Compress and Elevate the injured area. I really appreciate how you give the reasons WHY reducing inflammation is important to the rotator cuff joint.
It’s also important to add the YTU balls should be used very, very gently and in an “exploratory” manner on mildly inflamed tissue, The flip side is that digging the balls into red, angry tissue may exacerbate the condition.
Thanks Jeffrey for this and the related articles on rotator cuff injury and the process of healing. The article is very informative and I enjoyed reading it. Your explanation of the objectives of relaxed muscle is so crucial to understand. I certainly believe that Yoga Therapy balls are effective once the R.I.C.E is done. However one has to work through the surrounding area a little further away, first and then explore very gently around the area.
very helpful! and the therapy balls are an amazing tool for pinpointing this area. thanks!
I really appreciate the breakdown of the rotator cuff mechanics and the advice for self-massage. Having had both shoulders injured (one many years ago, and one relatively recently), I feel the adhesions/scar tissue in both, and the differences between the older injured shoulder and the more recently injured shoulder in all type of activities (yogic and ADLs). I particularly love the YTU quick fix videos (5 and 10 minutes), and have especially come to appreciate the Pranic Bath for its gentle awakening of the entire shoulder girdle. The therapy balls are also excellent in the rotator cuff sequence, but I agree with Dinneen and Dilshad that a gentle exploration is called for, at least until those areas have more oomph to experience opening.
I wish I had read this post a few months ago when my mother injured her shoulder moving something that was about a third of her weight. After many years of habitual internal rotation of her shoulders (from working at desks, writing, needlework, etc.) the sudden compression and force forced on the inflamed muscles of her rotator cuff was one insult too many. She decided to power through the pain by assaulting her shoulder with more activity like aggressive gardening and swinging golf clubs. The pain got worse and range of motion in the shoulder smaller. After 6 weeks, she finally went to see a specialist who said surgery might be needed to reattach torn tendons and ordered her to stop treating her poor shoulder like a drill sergeant. After the observation of RICE and a few weeks with a physical therapist, the shoulder will not need surgery and is healing nicely. YTU therapy balls are next. Your explanation of why working an inflamed muscle is unwise makes a lot of sense. Thank you.
i love this picture of the rotator cuff muscles, i keep thinking of them as encapsulating the shoulder blade but of course, there are attachments to the humeral head as well and this picture shows this clearly. thanks for sharing, and also explaining why its so important to release and relax this area. i haven’t been spending enough time on the shoulders with my YTU balls!
After yesterday’s YTU therapy ball sessions working the shoulder and arm, I have new found respect and knowledge of the musculature of the shoulder cuff and surrounding areas. This is an area of the body that has eluded my understanding to my regret I only wish I’d found YTU sooner. The hands on work we are doing is giving me mental picutres of intricate details I have never been able to call upon. And my classmates amaze me with their knowledge and creativity. I am learning so much from them, an huge bonus to this training. Thanks to all.
Thank you for this post! I have massage clients and yoga students with shoulder injuries and this was very helpful!
Thank you! I have been using the therapy balls on my injured shoulder and have seen a great improvement. I still feel I have limited range of motion, but the daily pain is gone and my strength is returning.