Okay, I know that if you have a painful shoulder at the moment the last thing you need is some happy soul being glib about how to sort it out, but the reality is that for almost all of us rotator cuff rehab is really very simple. The only exceptions to that rule are if you have either managed to acquire a bad tear or what is known as a full thickness tear. If you have then you'll be booking surgery before you start using your shoulder again.
But, like I said, for the majority of us rotator cuff rehab is reasonably simple.
The first thing that you need to understand is what kind of injury you have, because when you do, then you start to understand how you are going to fix it.
A rotator cuff injury is damage to the muscles of the rotator cuff. These are a group of four muscles that all connect to the scapula or shoulder blade at one end and the top of the arm at the other. What they do, in the great scheme of things, is to hold the arm in place as you move. Depending on how you move, different muscles within the cuff work harder. Once you get your arm above shoulder height you are asking your rotator cuff muscles to work their hardest to prevent the ball of the humerus coming away from the socket of the shoulder joint
This is why when you damage your rotator cuff it always seems to hurt worst when you lift your arm above shoulder height or reach for something.
the muscles are all grouped tightly together forming a cuff of muscle around the joint to help hold it in place. They run across the surface of the shoulder blade. One of them, the supraspinatus runs through a channel of bone at the top of the shoulder blade before attaching to the upper arm.
This is the tendon that causes the most trouble with a rotator cuff injury because when it gets inflamed and starts to swell it has nowhere to go so it starts to get pinched by the bone which causes further pain and injury. Think of it like an old being rubbed against a hard surface. Sooner or later it will either break or at best start to fray.
So if you want your rotator cuff to heal completely there are really omly three steps.
Step one, rest the muscles to let it heal. That means avoiding any movement that causes pain. Which may involve changing the way in which you work for a while or even taking some time off.
Step two, work on the the inflammation. Try anti-inflammatory drugs like Ibuprofen and use ice packs whenever you can. If that doesn't work ask your doctor for a steroid injection.
Step three, when the cuff has settled down start a simple course of shoulder specific physical therapy exercises aimed at strengthening and rebuilding the muscles of the rotator cuff. These will be small movements with light weights or low resistance that isolate and exercise this small but important group of muscles.
It's quite simple really. Muscles won't heal unless you rest them. Carrying on through a rotator cuff injury will cause more damage. Let the inflammation go down before you start exercising and do exercises that strengthen the damaged muscles.
Told you it was simple! I know because that's exactly how I fixed my shoulder.
