Rotator Cuff Tear - Exercises to Strengthen Shoulders

The rotator cuff is a small group of muscles and tendons in each shoulder that allows the upper arm to rotate and stabilizes the shoulder joint. If the shoulder joint is forced too far outside its normal range of motion, the rotator cuff may tear, resulting in pain, soreness and instability in the shoulder. Performing exercises to strengthen the rotator cuff and surrounding shoulder muscles can help stabilize the shoulder and prevent pain and injury.

  1. Rotator Cuff Exercises

    • Doing exercises that focus directly on strengthening the rotator cuffs is often the quickest way to build stability in a shoulder. Since the rotator cuffs are small and relatively weak, very little weight is required to work them to fatigue.

      One way to work the rotator cuff is the side rotator lift. To do this lift, lie on your side, keep the elbow closer to the ceiling at your side and rotate the forearm up from your belly until it is parallel with the floor. This 90-degree motion may not seem like it is doing anything at first, but after several repetitions you should feel fatigue in a small muscle in the shoulder. Do as many reps as necessary to completely fatigue the rotator cuff. When you are just starting out, you may not need to use any weight with this lift, but you can easily add weight by holding a dumbbell in your hand.

      A similar rotator cuff workout can be done while standing and using a resistance band. Set the band up to provide resistance at waist level, grab the band and rotate the forearm from the belly until it is pointing straight ahead against the resistance provided by the band. You can also perform this exercise using a cable machine at a gym.

    Shoulder Muscle Exercises

    • Increasing the strength and stamina of the muscles surrounding the shoulder can further bolster the stability of the joint and decrease the chance of injury. Three simple and effective shoulder strength exercises can be done using a pair of dumbbells. Start by taking both dumbbells and letting them hang at your sides as you stand straight up. For the first exercise, move the arms out to the sides, making a cross with your body arms. For the second exercise, alternate moving the arms straight forward, while keeping them extended, and for the final exercise move the arms straight backward. You can perform these exercises in a quick circuit; start with the cross exercise and do as many reps as necessary to fatigue your muscles, then move on to the next exercise and continue switching until you do each exercise two or three times.

      When rehabbing from a rotator cuff injury, start with light dumbbells of a pound or two and work your way up as your shoulder heals. Stop any exercise that causes pain as it may worsen an injury.

    Shoulder Press

    • After you have built up your shoulders' stability and recovered from your injury, consider doing heavier lifting such as the shoulder press or military press. These can help build up the raw strength of the large deltoid muscles on the side of the shoulders, reducing the chances of incurring injury when lifting or moving heavy objects and putting large amounts of stress on the joint. Be wary, however, of lifting too much weigh too soon or increasing the weight too quickly. Start with a low amount of weight, such as a couple of 10-lb. dumbbells, and move up slowly over time.