Has your spring and summer yard work brought on some new aches and pains in your shoulder? You might consider having a screening to look into your rotator cuff.

The rotator cuff is made of 4 muscles: supraspinatus, infraspinatus, teres minor and subscapularis.  The function of these 4 muscles is to hold the round ball at the top of the humerus in the small flat area on the scapula called the glenoid fossa.  The shoulder has very poor boney stability and uses the rotator cuff muscles for stability to keep the shoulder in the socket. 

The problem occurs when we slouch, it stretches out the back muscles that attach to the scapula causing the scapula to not get out of the way as you raise your shoulder.  This pinches  the supraspinatus, one of the rotator cuff muscles.  If you keep pinching the cuff, you will end up first with an impingement syndrome.  But it will progress to a tear if you are not careful. 

The first signs of a rotator cuff problem is pain in the outside or lateral shoulder area.  The pain will happen when raising your shoulder overhead. 

If you have pain in your shoulder, it is time to get a free screening to observe your shoulder movement pattern to prevent a future surgery. Schedule a free screening so we can help set you on the right path.