Exercise your rotators

[woodswise]

I have two rotator exercises I do and they make my shoulders feel great and when I am having some shoulder joint pain, they eliminate the pain completely. I use them whenever I am having some shoulder pain, or as I feel the need to do some preventative maintenance on shoulders.

First is standing (I call them upright rotators). Grab a pair of light dumbbells. I have been using 12.5lbs lately. Hold them in military press at the bottom of the press, with elbows straight out from your shoulders and hands straight up in the air. Keeping your upper arms stationary, rotate your hands to your front, so you end up with the weights even with your shoulders, straight to your front, then rotate them back to the starting position. That is a single rep. Do 3 sets of 15 reps on these. Your elbows should remain bent at 90 degrees throughout, and your upper arms should remain parallel with the ground and immobile throughout.

Second, and final is lying on a bench (I call them prone rotators). Lie on your side on a bench. Hold a dumbbell in the hand that is on top. Place your arm along your side, with a towel under your elbow, holding your arm up about 4" from your side. Bend your elbow so your forearm is 90 degrees from your upper arm. Start with your forearm parallel to the ground, then lower the weight across your front while keeping your upper arm stationary. When your forearm touches your belly and just before your elbow starts to lift, stop. Raise the weight back to the starting point. That is a single rep. Do 3 sets of 15 reps on these.

Be ready for your shoulders to burn on these. But afterward, my shoulders feel amazing for days, sometimes even weeks after a single session! When I do them, any shoulder pain I have been experiencing goes away and doesn't return so long as I do these at least once per week.

 

[plank]

I used a program similar to this for rotator cuff rehab several years ago and it worked great. I think preventative maintenance like this should be used quarterly and not only when injured.

 

[woodswise]

Since I wrote this, my coach has given me a new rotator regime:

After you have warmed up your shoulders (I do my normal warm up and dynamic stretching, then one set of bench press or overhead press, depending on the exercise I am doing that day) using a light band (1/4" thick / 1 cm thick) do the following.

1. holding the band in front of you, with elbows bent 90 degrees and tight to your sides (as though you were going to do a barbell curl), pull out with your hands for 10 reps, hands supinated, then 10 reps, hands prone. It is important to keep your elbows locked to your sides with these, maybe even holding something between your elbow and your side. . . And you can do these one armed by tying the band to something, and holding a towel or something between your elbow and your side.
2. Holding your arms straight out to the front at shoulder height, shoulders locked together (like you were bench pressing) stretch the band until it reaches your throat for 10 reps.
3. Holding your arms straight overhead, shoulders locked together, stretch the band and rotate your arms until the band touches your buttocks for 10 reps.
4. Holding your arms straight overhead, shoulders locked together, stretch the band until it reaches your traps.

 

[woodswise]

In recent months when I have sore shoulder joints, I have had good luck with holding my first two fingers on the top of my shoulder joint, pressing firmly but gently on the sore spot, and rotating my arm. Sometimes I press down from top, sometimes from the front, and sometimes more from the back, depending on where the pain is greatest. It is kind of like flossing the sore spot ( i.e. pressing down on the swelling) but with my fingers. A few weeks of doing that a couple days per week and the pain usually goes away until the next time I stress my shoulders. . .

This technique has also worked great for sore tendons!