Can rotator cuff exercises help me with my shoulder pain? I have been having some pains in my shoulder lately. I enjoy sleeping on my side and at night doing so causes my shoulder to hurt. It kind of sucks too because I am pretty picky about how I am positioned when prior to falling asleep.
Doing some research on the Internet leads me to believe that it is possible that I might be having some issues with my rotator cuff. I was reading a web page that gave me some really excellent information about the rotator cuff and I believe that I might have torn my rotator cuff playing baseball with my son. I can’t imagine at this point how doing any kind of rotator cuff exercise could help. I think that I just need to allow some time for my shoulder to heal.
The odd thing is that it has been weeks since we have last thrown ball together. He is now playing football, but learning more about the rotator cuff I discovered that it is very slow to heal. According to the article I read, the reason why the rotator cuff is slow to heal is because it is tissue that doesn’t have a lot of blood flow. The crazy thing that I discovered that that studies have shown that 40% of people who have a damaged rotator cuff don’t even know it. So for me, I am wondering if I had damaged mine, not knowing, and then continued to make it work by throwing ball with my son?
Now matter what, my shoulder does bother me. Strangely though, it only bothers me at night when I lay in bed. I am starting to read more about this and see if there are any rotator cuff exercises that I can do to help prevent this from getting worse or from happening again after my rotator cuff heals.
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Date/Time: 8-26-2008 07:24:23 Comment #19622
I’d go to the doctor about this one to get evaluated. Sitting at a desk all day can put all kinds of strains on your body. There is a poster floating around called “deskersizes” that shows all kinds of exercises you can do while your at your desk to stretch your muscles continually throughout the day.
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Date/Time: 8-26-2008 08:11:41 Comment #19632
Oh wow, I didn’t even think about that. So you think with desk type work for long periods of time could be the cause of this? I think maybe its a combination of the two. Good point Owen.
Date/Time: 8-27-2008 06:32:02 Comment #19770
I think you were probably right the first time about the baseball causing it. It’s highly unlikely that deskwork would be the cause of an injury like that although if your workspace and habits aren’t ergonomic then they could aggravate an existing injury. Rotator cuff injuries are very common among baseball players and athletes involved in other sports where throwing is involved. This is because of the strain placed on the shoulder joint during the throwing motion so you probably strained your rotator cuff muscles while playing baseball with your son.
If it’s just a minor tear then exercises will definitely help heal and strengthen it again but you must be very careful when doing specific rotator cuff exercises as the joint is especially vulnerable when injured and the last thing you want to do is make it worse by doing the wrong exercises or doing them the wrong way because unfortunately it is true that the injury can be slow to heal. I had a very persistent injury to my cuff which I managed to heal with proper exercise but not before I made a few mistakes.
Make sure you see a doctor before you jump into exercising it and when you’ve got the all clear then make sure you exercise it in the correct manner. If you’re interested, on my website I have more information on rotator cuff exercises and doing them the right way. I hope it heals quickly for you.
Date/Time: 8-27-2008 07:23:38 Comment #19774
Yes, I wouldn’t say “CAUSED” it, but I know if I have an aching muscle sitting down at a desk for hours on end doesn’t usually help it any. Putting ice / heat on it might help depending on the type of injury or when it was injured. Those salonpas pad things work good, not sure about for rotator cuff’s but if your in extreme pain, you should probably go to the doctor, if you can bear it you could wait a while, but at what point is it too much? I always say “If it hurts this bad tomorrow I’ll go” and the pain gets better I won’t go. Perhaps this is a bad habbit but it seems to work
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Date/Time: 8-27-2008 08:09:27 Comment #19777
Hi Gary,
I’m sorry to hear about your shoulder pain. A tear is a tear – exercising the joint will not heal a tear.
You should see a doctor and have him diagnose the problem and prescribe a treatment, which may include physical therapy or some passive stretching.
One note – as you become older, the chances of injuring your Rotator Cuff become greater with many of the injuries being the result of repetitive stress movements and not a one time event (throwing the baseball with your son).
Sitting at a computer all day does not help. Here is an article that you may find helpful:
http://therotater.com/blog/shoulder-impingement-and-computer-use/
Good luck – I hope your shoulder heals soon,
Chris Melton