Anatomy Lesson #1- Rotator Cuff Part 2

And...back to our anatomy lecture.  In Part 1 (I was explaining the muscles of the rotator cuff (supraspinatus, infraspinatus, teres minor and subscapularis), and started to get into why they are so important to a throwing athlete.  So far we know that three of them perform external rotation of the shoulder when they shorten (a concentric contraction).  This is important, however they have a couple other functions which are even more important.

When a muscle lengthens to slow down a limb segment, that is called an ECCENTRIC contraction.  For example, when you do a ton of lunges and your butt and thighs are sore the next day, that is because the muscles are working eccentrically to control your lower body as you lunge (so that you don't just fall to the ground every time).  In the case of the rotator cuff, the muscles work concentrically to bring the ball to the throwing position, but then as you throw and release the ball they work eccentrically to control your arm as it slows down.  Otherwise, your arm would whip forward and basically go flying with the ball as it is released from your hand.

The third way the rotator cuff works for us is as a DYNAMIC STABILIZER.  This means that while our arms are doing "dynamic" things like throwing or batting, or activities like bench press and chin-ups in the gym, the rotator cuff is working to help hold our shoulder and arm away from our body.  If you didn't have a rotator cuff, then it would be pretty tough to keep your arm from flopping against your body while doing dynamic activities.  Its role as a dynamic stabilizer becomes even more important when we have previous shoulder injuries.  Because it is a "cuff", surrounding the top part of the arm and shoulder joint, it helps hold everything together.  If the muscles are strong, then we will in turn have a stronger shoulder!

So to put it all together, and relate the anatomy to our rotator cuff exercise, here is what you need to remember!  If you're not doing the exercise properly, then you're not working the rotator cuff efficiently and in some cases it could lead to injury.

1.  Make sure you keep your elbow pinned to your side.  If you are doing the rotator cuff exercise standing up, pinning a towel between your elbow and side can help make sure of this.

2.  Keep your wrist straight...don't let it bend back as you get tired or as you get close to the end of the movement.  By extending our wrist, we are working muscles that in the forearm...not the rotator cuff.

3.  Maintain an "L" shape at your elbow...don't let the weight creep in towards your shoulder as it gets heavy!  Those of you who have been corrected on this will know that it feels a lot different to do it the proper way, because it's working the rotator cuff more effectively.

4.  Once you've reached your maximum range of motion going back, SLOWLY lower the weight back to your starting position.  This works the muscle eccentrically as you control the weight back down.  Simply letting it flop next to your stomach isn't helping anything.

Keep in mind that there are lots of other ways to work your rotator cuff, so if you want some alternatives to the one we've been doing at training please let me know!

vp