Is It Possible Sort Out Rotator Cuff Tendonitis Simply With Just Shoulder Exercise?

The last thing on your mind when you have rotator cuff tendonitis is any kind ofany type of exercise but surprisingly that is exactly what you need to be doing to repair it. But, before you reach for the gym bag and rush off to lift some weights, stop and read the rest of this article.

The right sort of exercise can fix shoulder tendonitis. The wrong type of exercise can simply make it worse, much worse. In fact if you over-exercise a badly inflamed shoulder tendon you will almost certainly end up making it worse or even snapping the tendon completely which would definitely put you on a waiting list for corrective surgery.

Rotator cuff tendonitis or shoulder tendonitis is basically the irritation or swelling of the tendons of the rotator cuff. How severe it is will depend on what caused the problem in the first place but is generally as a result of either simple wear caused by getting older or a regular overhead action such as painting or throwing. It is common to certain sports people and is sometimes known as pitcher's shoulder or swimmer's shoulder.

So how do you fix shoulder tendonitis. Firstly, don't despair. It is a fairly common injury with roughly a third of the population experiencing it at some point in their lives. It is also reasonably simple to sort out with the right treatment.

To begin with the treatment is bound to involve resting the muscles and avoiding any movement that caused pain. These are bound to be any type of overhead movement or reaching action. You may need to change the way that you work for a while in order to allow the muscles to rest but it is essential if you want to avoid worsening the injury.

The irritation needs to be treated with ice packs and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as Ibuprofen. If the pain continues it may well be worthwhile having a cortisone injection to reduce the inflammation.  Your doctor can do this for you.

Once the muscle has settled down it is important to start some exercises specifically for the rotator cuff aimed at strengthening the rotator cuff muscles. These will be resistance exercises that isolate the rotator cuff muscles and can easily be done at home. Going to the gym and pushing weights will do nothing for the rotator cuff muscles. These are small but very important muscles that help to hold the upper arm bone in place in the socket of the shoulder and they are vital to the general health of the joint. Weak rotator cuff muscles equal a weak shoulder no matter how strong the other muscles of the shoulder are.

Rotator cuff therapy exercises are absolutely necessary if you want to regain a healthy pain free shoulder and ought to be compulsory for everyone over forty just to keep their shoulders healthy. Unfortunately most of us don't even know of the existence of the rotator cuff until we get an injury and find out to our cost that we have been neglecting them.

 I personally now do five or ten minutes of rotator cuff exercises every day simply to make sure that I never suffer from shoulder problems in the future.