Strengthening rotator cuff

jdlobb

Many, many years ago I dislocated both my shoulders. They've always given me problems. At one point I would nearly dislocate my right shoulder just reaching overhead.

Now that I've been back lifting weights for a while I've hit a point with my overhead lifts where I can feel my right shoulder, the weaker one, start to move out of place.

Obviously this is a HUGE problem. If I wasn't worried about my shoulder dislocating I could probably overhead press at least 50 pounds more. I also have poor range of motion, so I can't do overhead squats or snatches AT ALL. When I'm in a squat position the farthest back my arms will go is about 10 degrees in front of my head.

So. Anybody have any recommendations for exercises or stretches to add to my routine to help?

Right now my rotator cuff superset is

20 side-lying external rotation @ 5
20 high-to-low rows @ 10
20 high-to-low cable crossovers @ 6
20 cable lawn mowers @ 6

I add this to my workout twice a week

Azdak

First thing is stop doing overhead lifts. In general you want to back off from lifts that put excessive traction on the shoulder and move the humerus. It may be that because you are starting back up, your joints have not caught up with your muscles. So this might be a situation where you need to spend more time building a base before moving to heavier lifts.

I would consider doing some of your exercises with bands for awhile. Bands put the greatest resistance at the end of the ROM. You are less likely to displace the humerus and the “isometric” hold at the end helps develop your ability to stabilize your scapula.

I don’t know that all of those rows are the best thing. I would consider doing seated or low rows with an underhand grip, or with the hands angled at 45 degrees.

In addition to lying external rotations, I would add standing vertical external rotations as well. I would do something that involves shoulder depression (pushing down using the shoulder with the arm straight—cable or tubing). And I would also do some exercises to work on the lower traps.

If you are doing bench press, I would do them lying on the floor—put the bar on the bottom part of squat rack. The floor will limit the range of motion.

And instead of overhead presses, I would try a landmine press—thats a good way to load up some weight w/out stressing the shoulder joint.

Good luck

Gisel2015

Azdak wrote: »

First thing is stop doing overhead lifts. In general you want to back off from lifts that put excessive traction on the shoulder and move the humerus. It may be that because you are starting back up, your joints have not caught up with your muscles. So this might be a situation where you need to spend more time building a base before moving to heavier lifts.

I would consider doing some of your exercises with bands for awhile. Bands put the greatest resistance at the end of the ROM. You are less likely to displace the humerus and the “isometric” hold at the end helps develop your ability to stabilize your scapula.

I don’t know that all of those rows are the best thing. I would consider doing seated or low rows with an underhand grip, or with the hands angled at 45 degrees.

In addition to lying external rotations, I would add standing vertical external rotations as well. I would do something that involves shoulder depression (pushing down using the shoulder with the arm straight—cable or tubing). And I would also do some exercises to work on the lower traps.

If you are doing bench press, I would do them lying on the floor—put the bar on the bottom part of squat rack. The floor will limit the range of motion.

And instead of overhead presses, I would try a landmine press—thats a good way to load up some weight w/out stressing the shoulder joint.

Good luck

@azdac7 has it right. I had shoulder surgeries in both shoulders to repair rotator cuff tears. I developed tendonitis and OA in my left shoulder (my problem child), so I have to be very careful or the pain doesn't allow me to do nothing at all for few days or weeks.

My orthopedic doctor recommended the same things that I bolded in the above response to your question. No military/overhead presses and no OHP. He doesn't want me to do bench press either in supine position; he recommended seating down presses in the machine (darn!). And if I do decide to bench press-once in awhile- I have to use only the bar and do few reps or I get into a lot of trouble (aka pain).

Deeps, using the bench, are also out of my routine right now. I use the machine but I don't let the shoulders go very high up. I just got to accept that I need to use the machines more often than the free weights if I want to keep up with my strength training routine. It is a "b...h" but it is better than nothing.

Be careful if you do pec-flies with free weights, don't open your arms to the side too much, just keep them at shoulder level. My doc recommended that I do keep the lateral raises at a 45 degree angle and that I increase the reps rather than the weight.
Good luck and don't get discourage.