THE IMPORTANCE OF THE ROTATOR CUFF

The rotator cuff is a group of 4 muscles (supraspinatus, infraspinatus, teres minor and subscapularis) that come off the back of the shoulder blade and wrap around the front of our shoulder.

The rotator cuff has 2 main functions:

*It enables us to externally and internally rotate our shoulder, allowing us to move our hand around in different directions and reach for things AND

*It stabilises the ball of our shoulder (humeral head) in its socket (glenoid).

Rotator cuff weakness or dysfunction is an extremely common reason for the development of shoulder pain, as we spend so much time building up our global muscles in the gym (pecs, delts, traps, lats etc.) but neglect training our stabilisers, and thus create an imbalance. When the cuff is not strong enough to counteract the forces from our global muscles, we get compression of the tendons, impingement symptoms, and pain.

Completing rotator cuff strengthening exercises may seem quite simple or boring, but they are extremely important and effective in the treatment and prevention of shoulder pain! Don’t make the mistake of neglecting the rotator cuff in your training or rehabilitation…

Chris Bryceson

B. Health Sciences (Physio), APAM

CB Physiotherapy