Lecture Part 2: The Rotator Cuff, our shoulder's deep core

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Exercises from Class

Rotator Cuff Swings

With a weighted block or water bottle, let the arm hang. Notice how the prop wants to pull the arm out of the socket, gently stabilize the arm into the socket as you swing the arm forward and back

Rotator Cuff Swings 2

Same as the previous exercise, but try swinging side to side

Rotator cuff Circles

Once you have warmed up the rotator cuff with some swings, try gently circling the arm in both directions. Try to feel how this integrates into the deep core, and not just the shoulder

Rotator Cuff Figure 8s

Once you have warmed up the rotator cuff with some swings, try gently drawing figure 8s in both directions. Try to feel how this integrates into the deep core, and not just the shoulder

Rotator cuff Awareness Exercise

With the elbow into the side body body, forearm parallel to the floor, take opposite arm and provide resistance on the outside of the hand. Gently press the hands together and notice the sense of stability in the glenohumeral joint. Try to feel how that stability can originate from the deep core and let the pressing of the hands help you lengthen through the whole spine

Rotator Cuff Awareness 2

With the elbow into the side body body, forearm sparallel to the floor, bring hands together in Anjali Mudra. Gently press the hands together and notice the sense of stability in the glenohumeral joint. Try to feel how that stability can originate from the deep core and let the pressing of the hands help you lengthen through the whole spine

Intro to Rotator Cuff: The deep core of our shoulder

1. Shoulders: Out of Sight out of mind…Not for long! The shoulders are a difficult joint to know more about because they are mostly behind us, or buried deep within. We will be taking time to illuminate this landscape in the next few classes, so that it is no longer out of sight and out of mind. We will see that the shoulder joint itself functions much like our core— there is a deeper core responsibility for pre-emptive movement, as well as the first degrees of motion, and there is also a more functional/superficial aspect that awakens during higher loads, angles and asymmetrical work.

2. The deep core of your shoulder is your rotator cuff. The rotator cuff is the ingenious way that our body’s have evolved to allow the shoulder to be such a massively mobile joint while also maintaining internal stabilization. The rotator cuff muscles basically are an extension of the shallow shoulder socket itself, as they sandwich the scapula from all sides and wrap around the humeral head. They expand the stabilizing capacity of the glenohumeral joint without limiting its mobility.

3. There are four rotator cuff muscles, usually abbreviated as SITS: Supraspinatus, Infraspinatus, Teres Minor and Subscapularis. To better understand the rotator cuff we can take a moment to look at a few of the many boney landmarks of the scapula to see how they work.

1. Landmarks of the scapula and Rotator Cuff locations

1. The Spine of scapula runs roughly parallel to the clavicle, it’s almost like a collar bone on the back of your body.

2. This spine itself creates a valley called the supraspinous fossa, in which lies the supraspinatus rotator cuff muscle, as well as the upper portion of the Trapezius muscle.

1. Supraspinatus sits deep in the valley of the upper scapula, this muscle assists in lifting the arm

3. Below this ridge is the infraspinous fossa, in which sits the infraspinatus and teres minor rotator cuff muscle

1. The infraspinatus and Trees Minor help with external rotation when the arms are at the sides of the body

4. The front of the scapula has a little crows beak, called the coracoid process, that reaches forward to become an attachment point for pec minor, a muscle of respiration that lifts the upper chest when your really huffing and puffing. The coracoid process comes from the Greek word Korax, meaning raven.

1. Shallow breathing is generally assisted by the pec minor, and now knowing this connection point of the scapula, shows you why shallow breathing and forward head posture, as well as an anteriorly shifted shoulder girdle are all a part of the same challenge.

5. And finally, we move to the anterior (Front) portion of the scapula that actually brings us into more stability considerations as this is where the shoulder blade glides over the ribs, as we’ll see in a moment, but also where the rotator cuff reaches forward to hold the humerus in place during activities such as throwing, or hanging— high demand actions.

1. In terms of the shoulder socket we see that the Subscapularis fills this anterior side of the scapula and reaches to the front of the humeral head. From this angle, it is the only rotator cuff muscle that assists with medial rotation and adduction of the shoulder, squeezing the arms in towards mid line, or swinging the arms when walking.

2. This is the most powerful of the rotator cuff muscles and prevents displacement of the head of the humerus when throwing or pulling downwards, as you can feel the humerus head is pulled away from the socket in these actions and sub scapularies keeps it in place. It also keeps the scapula tracking the humerus when reaching for an object over head.