How to Strengthen a Rotator Cuff With Elastic Band Exercises

One of the perils of weight training, swimming, tennis and many other popular physical activities, is a rotator cuff injury. These injuries can prevent you from raising your arms, lifting objects, and can even be caused by the very weightlifting exercises designed to prevent them. Strengthen and fortify your rotator cuff against injury by doing exercises with an elastic exercise band. You can increase the resistance of the band without jeopardizing your cuff by forcing yourself to lift a weight that may be too heavy. These simple exercises can save you months of painful rehabilitation and forced inactivity.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Elastic exercise band

1. Place one foot on top of one end of the elastic band. Your feet should be about shoulder-width apart. Do not lock your knees.
2. Hold the other handle in your hand at chest level. Your arm should be parallel with the floor, and your elbow will form a right angle.
3. Raise your hand until your arm is parallel with your body. You should not use high resistance on these exercises. These are strengthening exercises, and you will accomplish more by high numbers of repetitions than you will be straining your muscles. In fact, you may even injure your rotator cuff if you make the resistance too great.
4. Even though the motions in this illustration appear fast and abrupt, your motions should be steady so that you are always working to resist the pull of the exercise band. Return your arm to its original position. Your movements should be steady and controlled. Jerky movements can cause serious muscle injury and prevent you from deriving any benefit from these exercises.
5. Repeat the exercise as many times as you like. Because this is a strengthening exercise rather than a sculpting or building move, you will need to do at least three sets of 20 repetitions at a low resistance.

Tips & Warnings

• Consult a physician if you feel any pain in your shoulder area while doing this exercise.