Shoulder Impingement Exercises Can Sort Out A Shoulder Impingement But When Should You Begin



Posted: Sunday, January 03, 2010

by Nick Bryant

Shoulder impingement exercises are essential to reduce the recovery time from a shoulder tendonitis or a shoulder impingement, but it is important to start doing them at the right time and to avoid any exercise that causes you pain when doing them.

Shoulder tendonitis is simply inflammation of one or more of the rotator cuff tendons. which all help with shoulder stability and movement.

A shoulder impingement, on the other hand, is a potentially worse injury. It can develop when the supraspinatus tendon starts to become inflamed and gets pinched or impinged. The supraspinatus tendon helps you to raise your arm up to the front or side which is why these movements hurt when you have an impinged shoulder.

The tendon normally passes through a channel of bone at the top of your shoulder blade where your shoulder blade attaches to the collar bone. When it gets inflamed it can become too big for the channel and start to get pinched whenever you move your arm. This is a shoulder impingement. Classic symptoms are pain when raising your arm to the side or front which gets worse with use, together with weakness in the shoulder

Whether you have shoulder tendonitis or a shoulder impingement the exercises will be the same. However the timing may be slightly different.

What you are trying to do with shoulder impingement exercises is strengthen the whole shoulder. There are twenty two muscles involved in shoulder movement and by strengthening all of them you can speed up the recovery of your rotator cuff. It is important that you do not feel pain when exercising as this could be a sign of additional damage being done.

If you have a shoulder impingement it is essential to treat the inflammation and rest the shoulder before you begin any exercise. It may take a few weeks of rest and anti-inflammatory drugs before you are able to begin exercising the shoulder. You may need to change the way that you work or even stop driving for a while to avoid painful movements, but this is essential. Pain when you have a shoulder impingement is a sign that you are doing more damage. The contradiction is that you need to keep your shoulder moving to avoid developing frozen shoulder. So keep teh shoulder moving but avoid painful movements.

With both shoulder tendonitis and a shoulder impingement, the exercises will tend to be quite gentle, focusing more on stretching, flexibility and control. The rotator cuff muscles are relatively small muscles designed to hold the arm in place in the shoulder joint. Small increases in strength of the rotator cuff can have a dramatic effect on shoulder health.

Most of us tend to neglect the rotator cuff as we get older so it is no surprise that the majority of shoulder problems come about in the over forties age group. Other people at risk are sportspeople and anyone who uses their shoulders a lot at work, reaching up to work.

Once you have had a shoulder injury it is advisable to include shoulder exercises in your morning routine two or three times a week just to help keep your shoulder healthy.

If you found this article useful and would like to know more about the shoulder rehabilitation exercises that fixed my shoulder check out my site at http://www.strongershoulders.com


 
Nick Bryant lives in Shropshire in the UK with his wife and two young children where he is a director in their family recruitment business. His hobbies and interests tend to be family orientated and focussed on the outdoors and sporting activities. He is the proud owner of a vintage VW camper and he and his family spend a great deal of their spare time at the coast camping, body-boarding and surfing in the summer months. He is also a keen golfer. He writes on a number of subjects around personal health and well being and has recently started a blog at http://www.strongershoulders.com.
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