How to Relieve Rotator Cuff Pain

Rotator cuff pain is a common problem. You don’t have to be a high level overhead athlete to suffer from it, and it can cause you problems and discomfort in every day life. Many people will end up with a tight rotator cuff when they are sitting at a desk for a long time. The shoulder position, which is slightly anteriorly rotated, can cause tightness in some of the rotator cuff muscles. The rotator cuff consists of four muscles. The infraspinatus, teres minor, subscapularis and supraspinatus.

There are quite a few methods and ways you can relieve rotator cuff pain, but today we will look at something you can do completely by yourself and at home. The only cost to you is a tennis ball. I will discuss exercises to strengthen the rotator cuff muscles, which is imperative to reducing pain, however this post will focus solely on soft tissue work that you can do yourself. If you want some strengthening exercises now you can check out theraband shoulder exercises.

So as you can see from the picture, the two muscles that we can locate easily enough ourselves are the teres minor and the infraspinatus. Luckily these are the two that can get super tight, aggravated and even inflamed due to every day activities.

To release them at home with a tennis ball, you will need to lay on your side like in the picture. Where the arrow is pointing is where the infraspinatus sits and this will be your first port of call. As you can see in the picture below, you need to place the tennis ball between you and the floor, you will feel your shoulder blade moving around, but the tennis ball will fit nicely in the groove when laying on your side. You will know when you hit the spot, as I can promise almost everyone’s muscles in this area are a little tight. Once you hit the spot stay on it, move around slightly as you will find the spot is larger than you think, the muscles runs upwards towards your head to try to position your body like this. Check out the photos and try different arm positions once you have found the spot.

The great news is that by releasing this, you often take a lot of pressure off your neck, and it can help to relieve tight neck symptoms as well. If you are suffering from rotator cuff pain and are looking for ways to relieve rotator cuff pain, then this is something you can do at home and by yourself. Although it is not the total solution, it will certainly do no harm, and for many people it will get rid of the tightness and pain all together.

For more ways to release your shoulder pain with a foam roller and tennis ball check out The Ultimate Self Massage Guide.

Good Luck!