I'm sure you have heard a practitioner tell you or someone you know that your rotator cuff is injured, but what does that actually mean?
Firstly, your rotator cuff consists of 4 muscles that originate from your scapula (shoulder blade). The 4 muscles are the supraspinatus, infraspinatus, subscapularis and the teres minor. These muscles act together to stabilize the shoulder joint.
There are a number of ways you can injure your rotator cuff tendons and here are the most common injuries, in no particular order;
1. Rotator cuff tears - commonly caused by acute trauma following a forceful contraction or impact - most commonly found in the supraspinatus
2. Overuse tendinosis - commonly caused repetitive movement in which the rotator cuff becomes overworked - like pitching in Baseball
3. Shoulder impingement - commonly caused by a narrowing of your subacromial space (space between your acromion and humerus) - here the bursa becomes inflamed and/or the supraspinatus get pinched and rubs against the bone, making it very painful when lifting your arm up above 90 degrees.
These injuries however, are generally NOT the root cause of your shoulder pain, merely the consequence of chronic degeneration brought upon by poor body awareness and faulty movement patterns at the SCAPULA!
So on top of treating the symptom or pain, you must address the root cause. Otherwise, you will find yourself back in the waiting room in no time!
Any questions feel free to ask in the comment below :)
Angelo Campanella