Rotator Cuff Injury Exercises To Avoid

Sustaining a rotator cuff injury is very painful and can take a long time to recover from. It is for these reasons that a patient is encouraged to undergo physical therapy and participate in special exercises that will help speed up the recovery process.

However, not all exercises are beneficial to a person who is attempting to recover from or prevent a rotator cuff injury. Many exercises are truly beneficial while others are not. Furthermore, some exercises that are intended to be helpful can turn out to be harmful if they are performed incorrectly.

There are 5 exercises that athletes should avoid all together because the risk of injury to the rotator cuff is too high. They include:

• The Bench Press — A very common exercise used to build the chest and arms, but is extremely unsafe for one particular reason: many people bring the weight down until it lightly touches the chest which puts too much weight on the shoulders resulting in the soft tissue of the rotator cuff being compressed between the bones. This causes inflammation and lays the foundation for future injuries.

• Lateral Pull Downs — Although this is a great exercise to strength the back it is extremely dangerous for the shoulders and the rotator cuff. This particular action involves pulling a bar down behind your head which places the humerus in position that causes the rotator cuff to become pinched and injured.

• Pull ups — Most people would consider this a relatively safe exercise however it is when you are releasing your body down that the problem arises. If you let your weight down too fast or you don’t come down perfectly straight you can tear or pinch the rotator cuff.

• Dumbbell Lateral Rise — This is an exercise in which you grip a dumbbell in each hand and raise your arms out to either side. Seems harmless enough but if you lift too much weight or raise your arms higher than your shoulders you can cause serious damage to your rotator cuff.

• Military Press — Similar to the lateral pull down, this exercise is performed behind your head which leaves your rotator cuff vulnerable to inflammation and injuries.

Although these five exercises are not recommended, if they are done properly under the care of a physical therapist they could be okay. However if you are already suffering from rotator cuff pain or injury you should by no means try these exercises. Additionally, exercises that are deemed safe could still cause problems if not properly performed.

Therefore it is imperative that all preventive or rehabilitative rotator cuff exercises be executed under the supervision of a licensed physical therapist.