Often ignored in workouts, the rotator cuff muscles are actually very important. Without them, we would not be able to move our shoulders properly. Our shoulder would pop out of position and limit our movements. As you can imagine, any problem in this area is likely to cause a lot of pain.

In order to understand rotator cuff anatomy, it helps to have an overall picture of what these muscles do for us. Think of an antenna tower or one of those big poles in a circus tent. In both cases you want it to stay perfectly upright and in place. An antenna tower is held in place by several high tension guy wires that pull out on the tower in all directions. If the wind blows the tower in one direction, the opposite cable pulls back, keeping the tower from swaying and falling over.

The rotator cuff muscles work in the same way, except that our shoulder and arm are in constant movement. As some of the muscles in our shoulder lift up, others have to pull down. As we rotate our shoulder forward, such as when throwing a ball, other muscles have to pull back to keep our arms from flying off our body. The rotator cuff works as a well-choreographed team during shoulder movements. As you might imagine, a break down in the system will quickly lead to problems.

Rotator Cuff Anatomy

Supraspinatus
Basically, the supraspinatus muscle attaches on top of the shoulder. it helps lift the arm up and away from the body. Imagine holding a beer can in your hand as you old your arm out to your side. As you lift up your arm to the side, you are contracting the supraspinatus muscle.

The supraspinatus muscle attaches to the top of the shoulder joint. It then travels over the shoulder joint and back under the scapula. If you feel the bony part of the top of the shoulder, the supraspinatus travels right underneath this through a relatively narrow passage. This narrow passage makes the supraspinatus muscle vulnerable to pinching or impingement, a common source of shoulder pain. The supraspinatus receives fairly poor blood supply is often commonly injured by tendonitis and tears.

Infraspinatis
The infraspinatis muscle also attaches to the top of the shoulder joint, but just a little farther to the rear of the shoulder. It functions to help rotate the shoulder backwards, such as when cocking the shoulder in preparation for throwing a ball. It also helps pull back or decelerate the arm at the end of throwing a ball. Without the infraspinatus muscle, you would throw your arm along with the ball.

Teres-Minor
The teres-minor muscle works in a similar fashion to the infraspinatus. It helps to rotate the shoulder backwards before a throw, and then to decelerate the shoulder after the throw.

Subscapularis
Finally, there is the subscapularis muscle. This is one of the muscles that help rotate or shrug your shoulders forward. There are a number of other muscles involved in moving the shoulder forward in this manner, for example, pectoralis major, latissimus dorsi, and teres major. Therefore it is often difficult to diagnose a weakness in this specific muscle.

Scapular Stabilizers
In addition to the rotator cuff muscles, a full understanding of rotator cuff anatomy also includes the scapular stablizer muscles. These are also very important in the proper functioning of the shoulder. You should be aware of these and make sure that any training or rehabilitation program also focuses on developing these muscles.

The scapular stabilizer muscles include: serratus anterior, the trapezius muscles, and the rhomboids. They attach to the scapula and all help coordinate shoulder movement.

So lets go back to the antenna tower analogy for a minute. In terms of rotator cuff anatomy, imagine that each of these rotator cuff and shoulder stabilizer muscles are like the guy wires holding up the antenna tower. Each one has a specific duty to perform. If one is weakened or damaged, the whole system starts to change and become unstable.

Therefore, to maintain proper health in the shoulder, you need to make sure each of these mucles are strong and operating correctly.

If you are suffering from pain in your shoulder, it is likely due to weakness, inflammation, pinching, or a tear somewhere in this system. Only your doctor can help you determine where.

Typically, rotator cuff and shoulder problems can be treated effectively with physical therapy. The basic strategy is to start out with targeted stretching, the build flexibility and range of motion in the shoulder. Then, specific exercises are added to build strength in each of the muscles.

Whether you are seeking to strengthen your shoulder to prevent injury, or to rehabilitate it after an injury, following a targeted program of stretching and exercise can be very beneficial.

Don’t want expensive physical therapy bills?  You can always learn to do these stretches and exercises yourself.

Now that you have a basic understanding of rotator cuff anatomy, be sure to check out this excellent guide to proper shoulder training and rotator cuff pain relief.

Click here to find reviews on several excellent guides to shoulder strength training and shoulder pain relief.

Rotator Cuff Anatomy Explained courtesy of: http://www.shoulderpainfreedom.com

There are two areas where shoulder tendonitis can develop. One is up in the rotator cuff surrounding the shoulder joint. If you think you may have tendonitis, be sure to stop whatever you are doing that is aggravating the injury and consult with a doctor. Only a doctor can tell you if it is tendonitis or something more severe such as a torn muscle.

If it does turn out to be tedonitis of the rotator cuff, then there are a number of shoulder tendonitis treatment options that may help you.

Treatment Option #1: RICE

The first treatment option is the RICE method. Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation. This is a common first aid technique but is especially useful for rotator cuff injuries. Rest an immobilize your shoulder with the aid of a sling. Apply ice to calm the irritation and slow the swelling. Compression and elevation also help to reduce the blood flow and thus relieve pain.

Treatment Option #2: Anti-Inflammatory Drugs

Tendonitis, quite simply is the medical description of an inflamed tendon. Thus, anti-inflammatory drugs can offer quick relief. Over-the-counter drugs such as Advil often provide temporary relief. They reduce the pain and the inflammation in the affected area. In more severe cases, your doctor may recommend a Cortisone injection directly into the inflamed area. Cortisone is a powerful anti-inflammatory medication but like with other drugs, its affects are only temporary.

Treatment Option #3: Surgery

In extreme cases, your doctor may recommend surgery. There are a number of different surgical approaches to treating rotator cuff injuries. Unless you have severely torn a muscle or tendon, this is usually not required.

Treatment Option #4: Physical Therapy

This is the most common and most beneficial treatment option. This is because a good physical therapy program will not only help you stretch and regain flexibility in your shoulder, it will help you recondition and strengthen your shoulder so that the injury does not happen again.

The first phase of physical therapy focuses mainly on stretching the muscles of your shoulder. This helps to regain range of motion and flexibility. Without this step, you risk further calcification and stiffening in the shoulder. The gentle stretching gives the muscles time to heal and keeps them limber.

The second phase of physical therapy involves rebuilding strength and flexibility in each of the muscles of the shoulder, especially the weaker muscles in the rotator cuff. Weaknesses in these muscles are probably what led to the injury in the first place. Therefore, it makes sense to strengthen them in order to prevent future injuries in this area.

Shoulder tendonitis treatment options vary from simple pain relievers to surgery. But for effective long term treatment, you will eventually need to follow some sort of physical therapy program.

You can spend the big bucks and work with a trained physical therapist. Or you can just as easily learn to self-treat your own shoulder pain.

I personally prefer to work at my own pace in the comfort of my home. Here is an excellent shoulder pain relief guide that you can do on your own. Click here learn effective methods of shoulder tendonitis treatment that you can do on your own without any special equipment.

Shoulder Tendonitis Treatment Options – Heal Faster and Find Long Term Relief courtesy of: http://www.shoulderpainfreedom.com

The rotator cuff is a group of four muscles that stabilize and strengthen your shoulder.  Basically, these muscles help keep your shoulder in its socket as your lift, swing, throw, and reach with your arm.  They play crucial roles in most of our daily movements.  Unfortunately these muscles are very prone to injury.

If any of your rotator cuff muscles become weakened or damaged, you will know it.  You’ll experience both sharp and dull aching pain.  You shoulder may become stiff and you’ll lose a lot of flexibility and range of motion.

Rotator cuff injuries are common in sports like baseball, football, swimming, weight lifting, climbing, and kayaking and it is easy to see why.  Any activity that involves repetitive overhead circular movements, throwing motions, or swinging can put a lot of stress and strain on your shoulder muscles.

Click here to learn how to recover from shoulder pain.

You also don’t have to be an athlete to suffer from shoulder rotator cuff pain.  Rotator cuff injuries become increasingly common as we get older. Particularly after the age of 40 and definitely after age 60, it is important to actively stretch and exercise the rotator cuff muscles.

The key to recovering from shoulder rotator cuff pain and preventing shoulder injuries in the first place is to make sure you are stretching and exercising these muscles.  Particularly for injuries, it is not enough to do one or two exercises that you found on youtube.  You really need a targeted regimen of stretches and exercises that will rebuild strength and flexibility in all of your shoulder and rotator cuff muscles.  If you do the wrong exercise, or do the correct exercise improperly, you risk further damaging your shoulder.

The best strategy is to follow a step-by-step rotator cuff recovery program.  There are several good ones available and all were written by physical therapists who have used these same methods to help thousands of their own clients.  For more information, please visit our rotator cuff therapy guides page.

Click here for a detailed plan for shoulder rotator cuff pain relief.

Shoulder Rotator Cuff Pain courtesy of: http://www.shoulderpainfreedom.com

To understand about bursitis, it helps to know a little bit about shoulder anatomy. The rotator cuff is a set of four muscles that help to strengthen and stabilize the shoulder during movement. These muscles work together to support the shoulder, keeping your shoulder in its socket, and also work to counterbalance the other heavy lifter shoulder muscles.

In between the shoulder muscles and between the tendons and the bones are several spongy fluid filled sacks called bursae. Each bursa acts as a kind of cushion or padding, helping the muscles glide over each other and prevents the muscles from rubbing directly against bone.

Sometimes, due to trauma, repetitive motion, squeezing, and other forces, these bursae can become irritated and inflamed. When irritated, a bursa will swell with excess fluid, leading to a lot of swelling and pain. When this happens, it is called bursitis.

An “itus” is any inflammation of the muscles, tendons, or bursa. In this case, Bursitis is when a bursa becomes inflamed.

Click here for more information on bursitis and other rotator cuff injuries.

So how do you treat bursitis pain?

The first step is to treat the pain and swelling. Rest the affected and apply ice or a cold compress. This will help numb the pain and reduce swelling. You can also take pain relief/anti-inflammatory medication such as ibuprofen.

The second step is to follow a targeted program of physical therapy that stretches and exercises the rotator cuff area. This will begin a gradual healing process that will also help you reduce the pain and regain flexibility in the affected area.

If you follow a targeted program of exercise, bursitis pain and discomfort can be eliminated and you get back to normal life.

Shoulder Exercise | Bursitis Pain Relief courtesy of: http://www.shoulderpainfreedom.com

I find heat to be very effective before bed. I will use a warm compress or a hot bath to sooth and relief my aching shoulder muscles. This helps them to relax. It also makes them more flexible.

It hurts when I lie directly on my affected shoulder. So I generally try to fall asleep on my back first. But I also like to toss and turn and sleep on my side, so this is difficult.

Click here for a step-by-step guide to treating shoulder pain.

I found that I can arrange extra pillows in lots of different ways to help support my body. Sometimes I stuff them under my affected shoulder. This helps to cushion my injury and to better distribute my body weight.

Sometimes I’ll make a trough or valley between the pillows. I can lean back against them slightly and they will take some of the weight off my shoulder.

Pillows also give my arm somewhere to go. Even if I sleep on my good side, I find that my arm puts a lot of torque on my shoulder. I find that if I can rest my arm on a pillow in front of me, I don’t put as much strain on my rotator cuff injury.

For more information on treating sleep shoulder pain, recovering from shoulder pain, and strengthening your rotator cuff muscles, please see our recommended rotator cuff therapy guide.

Click here for a step-by-step guide to treating shoulder pain.

Shoulder Night Pain courtesy of: http://www.shoulderpainfreedom.com