Rotator Cuff injuries are some of the most common injuries in sports, such as, Baseball throwing, Football, Volleyball, Tennis, and even wrestling.
Rotator Cuff is made up of four tendons in your shoulder:
Every athlete that I've seen, they know this stretch, which is a great stretch:
However, it only stretches one part of the rotator cuff. The shoulder is extremely dynamic, it moves in a bunch of different ways, and if you're only stretching and strengthening one specific muscle in one area, you're leaving out the rest of the muscles in your rotator cuff which will make you susceptible to injury.
Downward Dog
This is a miracle of an exercise and is going to strengthen and stretch your rotator cuffs, and I recommend every athlete add this into their repertoire.
- You're going to be on all fours
- From the wrist, shoulders, and hips, you're going to be in one line
- If the knees needed to be bent, they can be bent
This stretch will help increase range of motion and prevent injury.
Binds
Binds are where both hands are clasped together, and the pulling apart of the hands is going to create a deeper stretch and a deeper range of motion in the shoulders.
First Bind
- Clasp your hands together behind your shoulders
- Pull your arms up as much as you can
- Keeping your palms together as much as your can will help protect the wrists from injuries from the exercise
To increase the intensity, you can fold your body forward. You can also do this standing up if your prefer.
Second Bind
This is called "cow face pose" in yoga. You can use props such as a towel, rope, or a shirt to help with your bind.
One hand goes over your shoulder, the other hand goes down behind your back.
Third Bind
You can do this stretch if you want to go a bit more advanced for your bind:
- go to an indian-style position
- keep your left leg right where it's at
- take your right foot, plant it in front of you
- take your right arm and poke it through your right leg
- reach your left hand behind
- and pull up
The more you pull, and the more your chest lifts, the more intense the stretch will be.
If you want to go for more challenge and stretch, in the same position, reach around the front shin:
