exercises that take pressure off rotator cuffs

[mydixiewrecked**]

im currently rehabing a rc injury and am loking into getting back to weight training, what type of exercises should i keep away from, what varaitions should i use, not just chest and delts exercises but arms and back also, im looking to start with back and arms after about 4 weeks of rehab exercises, then slowly add after about 6 weeks or so light delts and chest. what back and arm exercises put little or no stress on the rc. thanks

 

[stewy37]

Internet forums aren't the best place to ask thsi stuff. Ask your doctor and follow hsi instructions

 

[Urban]

Rule of thumb, don't do anything that hurts. That's really all you need to know while you rehab. If an exercise hurts your shoulder you can do one of two things: lighten the load or drop the exercise.

For what it's worth, I was having some shoulder problems a while back and began doing DB front raises with my hand inverted so my thumb pointed down and it worked wonders. No problems now whatsoever. Here's an article for you:
Part 1
Part 2

And as has been said already, your doctor's advice is more valuable than what is said here. Get some physical therapy, do their exercises, and then move on to not doing anything that hurts.

 

[Bman]

1- dont do anything that uses it duh
2- why are you asking anything this important to kids on the internet go see your doctor

 

[shanes]

do not do any movements behind your head ,for any pressing movement use dumbbells ,for chest you can move to a bar once the strenght starts to come back . but for shoulder press stay with the db for the next month or 2 .
do shoulders and chest together . start with all the laterial movements and work with in the pain barriers side,front and rear then mover on to presses .by that time your shoulder joint is fully warm and you can move on to some chest work .
keep the weights light and reps high and 2-3 times per weeks to keep the blood flow up to the muscles .

 

[Lusst]

Rule of thumb, don't do anything that hurts.

Yup, yup, more like the Golden Rule of Thumb.

And if you ask a doctor, they tell you not to lift at all.

 

[shanes]

Yup, yup, more like the Golden Rule of Thumb.

And if you ask a doctor, they tell you not to lift at all.

do that and you will never get better the only way to fix it is train it , but train smart

 

[Jus'Givr]

How long ago did you injure it? And what kind of injury was it? Did you tear it? I tore 2 of them a year ago and it still hurts occasionally. The day after it happened I couldn't even tie my shoe, because pulling on the shoe lace was too much resistance lol. I'd reccomend getting some physio and definatly do not try to be hardcore and train through the pain.

 

[Gavin LeFever]

Doctors are overrated. How many doctors have injured their RC going grappling or lifting? None that I've run into.

 

[Matt Thornton]

I wouldn't take my word 100% on this, but I have read that that "accessory strength" excercise where you lay on the bench sideways with a dumbbell and rotate your arm like a keylock, is actually worse for your shoulder.

Pec flyes also put pressure on your RC. Don't use those.

If I were to guess, I'd say light dumbbell chest presses, beginning in the 20-30 rep range. I choose dumbbells because you can get greater range of motion (ROM) from them than a barbell. So I'd bring them down pretty low to really get the range of motion into your cuffs.

A great ROM exercise for the rotator cuffs is to take 2 swiss balls of equal size, and place them next to each other at around the width of your hand placement on a wide-grip barbell bench press. Stick your arms out to your sides, and then make a 90 degree angle with your arms with your hands pointing in the same direction as your head, and rest a forearm on each swiss ball. If you've ever done the core exercise, "the plank," your arm placement is exactly like that, only instead of the outside blade of your forearm resting on the swiss ball, you rest the palm-side of your forearm. Stay up on your toes, so it's like doing a plank, only your upper body is higher up than your lower body. Slowly roll the swiss balls outward so that your chest lowers in between them. Take this slow and controlled. Now, roll the swiss balls closer together, so you lift your chest above them. This will build range of motion; functional flexibility for activities involving your RC.

To work your shoulders from the other angle, hold a light medicine ball in your hands, and keep your arms straight. Do a lunge, working on making the step as wide as you can (also works the ROM in your hips and legs). As you lunge forward, swing the medicine ball from in front of your hips to over and slightly behind your head, keeping your arms straight throughout. Reverse the action to return. They call it a cheerleader lunge, because the way you swing your arms, it looks like that stupid thing that cheerleaders do with their arms to stick their chest out.

 

[k'z factory]

Doctors are overrated. How many doctors have injured their RC going grappling or lifting? None that I've run into.

i've had one serious rotator cuff injury from bjj and two minor ones from lifting. i'm finishing up medical school right now. i don't think my experiences with those injuries have contributed much at all to my knowledge when compared to the vast amount of information i have learned about it in school.

 

[mydixiewrecked**]

Internet forums aren't the best place to ask thsi stuff. Ask your doctor and follow hsi instructions

you cant get a +1 from a doctor
seriously how many doctors know how to lift, proly not many, i would just as well ask a question to someone who actually had an injury and successfuly worked through it than ask someone who read a book on it.who would you rather ask a question to a black belt or some guy who read a book written by a black belt

 

[TapOutNow72]

Nice post
helpfull

 

[azjudoboxer**]

Did you see a physical therapist?

 

[k'z factory]

you cant get a +1 from a doctor
seriously how many doctors know how to lift, proly not many, i would just as well ask a question to someone who actually had an injury and successfuly worked through it than ask someone who read a book on it.who would you rather ask a question to a black belt or some guy who read a book written by a black belt

that's a pretty terrible analogy.

proper rehabilitation of an injury requires an understanding of muscle physiology and human anatomy - it's concrete knowledge that you can't acquire purely from experience with injuries. learning a martial art is physical learning which requires physical experience.

 

[mydixiewrecked**]

that's a pretty terrible analogy.

proper rehabilitation of an injury requires an understanding of muscle physiology and human anatomy - it's concrete knowledge that you can't acquire purely from experience with injuries. learning a martial art is physical learning which requires physical experience.

i just wanna know how and what exercises to do not to further fuck up my rc
this is fast turning in disscision on who i should take advice from, 1st doctors are just glorified mechanics they dont cut or do countless "TEST" they dont get paid. medicine is NOT CONCREATE, if it was their would be very few people who would die.

please if youve worked through an rc injury and have something to contribute please respond.
+ juans are in the ot .THANKS

 

[k'z factory]

i just wanna know how and what exercises to do not to further fuck up my rc
this is fast turning in disscision on who i should take advice from, 1st doctors are just glorified mechanics they dont cut or do countless "TEST" they dont get paid. medicine is NOT CONCREATE, if it was their would be very few people who would die.

please if youve worked through an rc injury and have something to contribute please respond.
+ juans are in the ot .THANKS

so medicine is not concrete but the sherdog knowledge base is? apparently english spelling is not "concreate" in your world either. medicine is not the art of achieving immortality; it's the art of healing. death and illness are not one and the same. please get an education before you try to make arguments about something like this because right now you're just spewing shit about a topic of which you know nothing.

but lets leave this argument and get back to the rotator cuff. your rc is comprised of four separate muscles with different actions. so you would have to give more details about your injury for anyone on the forum to give you advice about it. i would still recommend going to the doctor and taking his/her advice, but if you insist on getting your advice from here, give us more info about how you injured your rotator cuff and which arm movements cause pain.

 

[Bram Wiley]

I aggravated my rotator cuff by training for a triathlon (tons of swimming) while trying to keep up my lifting (tons of benching). I found a copy of the 7-minute rotator cuff solution in a book store and followed it's advice. At first I tried to keep my bench going with lighter weights but I had to eventually give up benching/chins/shoulder raises while I built back the strength in my r. cuff and allowed the inflammation of the tendons to decrease.

The exercise that Urban suggested is mentioned in the book as one to avoid because putting your arm in that position (internal rotation) and raising it generally increases the inflammation/irritation of the joint. Your arm in internal rotation positions a bony part of your arm such that it can jam into your shoulder blade and compress/damage/irritate the aggravated tendons. The exercises that iceman suggested are almost all no-no's esp. the deep bench and swiss ball exericse. They put a ton of stress on an already at risk shoulder. The one like a keylock that he mentions is the most basic one they suggest in the book as being beneficial.

Seriously talk to a physical therapist or try and find a copy of the 7-minute rotator cuff solution or possibly the buchberger 12 (I've heard good things about this approach as well). The articles that urban linked to might be helpful but are very vague on what to do and when and could damage your shoulder further if you indiscrimanately follow the advice. The reason I say do the 7-minute program is that I tried to pick random c. cuff exercises out of a hat and my shoulder didn't get any better at all. I started the program and my shoulder started improving immediately.