Tough Cuff: Bullet-proof Your Rotators for Pain-free Power
by Bill Starr
Page 2
The bones of the shoulder are involved in the rotator cuff. There's the shoulder blade (scapula), the collarbone (sternum) and the upper-arm bone (humerus). The meeting of those bones forms four joints, although only two are considered part of the rotator cuff, the acromio-clavicular, or A/C, joint and the gleno-humeral, or G/H, joint. The A/C joint is formed at the meeting of the shoulder blade and collarbone. It gets its name from the acromion, which is the portion of the shoulder blade that's involved with the collarbone. The gleno-humeral joint is formed where the humerus meets the part of the shoulder blade known as the glenoid fossa. The head of the humerus sits in a ball-and-socket capsule that's loose enough to allow the head of the arm bone to be drawn out of the socket about an inch. The adjoining muscles, tendons and ligaments are responsible for keeping the bone in place and resisting the tendency of the arm to pull out too far.
There are lots of muscles involved in the rotator cuff. Both heads of the biceps are actively involved, but only the long head of the triceps acts on the shoulder. The three deltoid heads are obviously involved, and while the pecs are not, they most certainly are related to the shoulder joint. The traps play a major role, yet I've never seen them mentioned in any article about the rotator cuff. The lats are part of the puzzle too, although the real core of the cuff is a group of small, extremely powerful muscles that run from the top of the shoulder down into the back: the supraspinatus, infraspinatus, teres minor, teres major and subscapularis. The teres major isn't as important to the rotator cuff as the teres minor, as its action is more closely related to the lats. In fact, the teres major has been called the 'lats' little helper.' It does, however, play a small role.
If you have access to an anatomy book or a wall chart of the muscular system, find these small groups, and note where they all join together. That's the rotator cuff. Naturally, if you seek medical help, you'll find out for certain if you do have a rotator cuff injury. If the pain is in the shoulder joint itself, you may have an inflammation of the soft bursa sac that cushions the humerus inside the socket of the G/H joint. It could also be tendinitis, a calcium deposit or fibrosis, which refers to scar tissue built up over the years.
This article is aimed at lifters who've just started experiencing rotator cuff pain. If you've had the problem for a long time or it's severe, however, go to a medical doctor. Then you can use the information here to help strengthen it.
Most athletes know about the series of movements that physical therapists and athletic trainers give to people who have rotator cuff problems. They're excellent for warming up the muscles and for rehab, but on their own they do very little to help improve strength. At some point you need to include some direct weight work so those small groups get stronger.
This process requires some experimenting, since no two injuries are exactly alike. At this stage you must be able to differentiate between a sharp, stabbing pain, which tells you that you're aggravating the injury, and a dull ache that subsides during the exercise. For example, when you try doing front raises, the first seven reps hurt, and then on the eighth rep the pain goes away. When that happens, you're on the right track.
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