Rotator Cuff Physical Therapy Will Fix Your Shoulder Fastest

Having torn my rotator cuff quite badly last year and ending up with a shoulder impingement I have discovered that rotator cuff physical therapy exercises are the quickest way to get your shoulder back to its pre injury state. This is equally true whether you are aiming to just speed up recovery time or recover from surgery.

Physical therapy is always recommended as part of the recovery process for cuff injuries. It is usually tried before resorting to surgery as most problems will respond to shoulder specific exercises. The exceptions to this are a full thickness rotator cuff tear or a severe shoulder impingement both of which may require surgery and a period of recuperation before starting physical therapy.

It is essential with any shoulder injury that you rest your shoulder properly for some time until the inflammation and pain have subsided. Any pain that you feel with specific movements is usually a sign that you are doing more damage to the muscle or tendons. Resting properly may well mean wearing a sling, avoiding driving and will certainly mean modifying your day to day activities to avoid painful movements. Along wit the rest, use non steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs to help to reduce the inflammation. Inflammation of the muscles and tendons is the main cause of pain in rotator cuff injuries and controlling the inflammation is key to a successful recovery.

Once the inflammation and pain are under control it is essential to start exercises that are specifically aimed at rehabilitating this group of muscles and strengthening the shoulder. Physical therapy exercises will not be the general weight bearing shoulder exercises that we use to build muscle as these tend to focus on the main muscles of the shoulder and avoid the rotator cuff.

Rotator cuff physical therapy will involve exercises with little or no weight or resistance often relying on the natural resistance of the body to achieve the desired result. Just lifting the weight of your arm is often enough load to achieve the desired effect at first, moving on to small weights as the muscles gets better. Any exercise routine should include a series of gentle stretches to avoid further injury to the damaged muscle, followed by stabilising and strengthening exercises. You will be surprised how quickly your shoulder can return to normal once you start developing the rotator cuff muscle.

In my case, I managed to fix a bad shoulder rotator cuff tear and shoulder impingement, which I was told would require surgery, in just eight weeks using rotator cuff physical therapy exercises.