What is my rotator cuff?

We all have two rotator cuffs which are very important to our shoulder operation, one inside each shoulder. Your rotator cuff is made of four muscles that provide joint security (I love this term, a tiny little police force living in your shoulder making sure that the glenohumeral (shoulder) joint remains functioning).

Why does your shoulder need a police force? Well the ball and socket joint of the shoulder is a bit rubbish (and also very good *). It is not like a caravan and car ball and socket joint where you have a deep strong connection (a bit like the hip). It is more like a scallop shell and a stick with a bulbus end. It fits ok, but really needs lots of tape and string to keep it together. Your rotator cuff muscles are the police, the tape and the string that hold this amazing joint together.

The next part is only for reading if you are super interested in the names and actions of the muscles.

The four muscles of the rotator cuff are:

Supraspinatus - This muscles sits at the top of the shoulder as is responsible in part for abduction of the arm, raising your arm up to the ceiling.
Infraspinatus - This muscles is closest to the body surface when looking at your back. It is in part responsible for lateral rotation of the arm. The movement of rotating the arm out and away from the body.
Teres minor - This muscle is also closest to the body surface when looking at your back. It is also in part responsible for lateral rotation of the arm. The movement of rotating the arm out and away from the body.
Subscapularis - This muscle is closest to the body surface when looking at you chest. It is responsible for medial rotation of the arm. The movement of rotating the arm inwards towards the body

The four rotator cuff muscles work closely with two other muscles the deltoid and teras major which also link the scapula to the humorous. The deltoid muscle is the squashy bit at the top outer edge of the shoulder and helps the supraspinatus with abduction (raising the arm to the ceiling). The teras major which is closest to the outside of the body surface when looking at your back and armpit works with sub scapularis for medial rotation. The movement of rotating the arm inwards towards the body

Back to the key points.

Shoulder exercise provided by Pilates helps to keep your should muscles moving, strong and stable. Your rotator cuff muscles hold the whole shoulder joint together, lets keep them strong.

* Earlier I noted that the shoulder joint (glenohumeral) was a bit rubbish. I hope you now understand that it is a bit rubbish on its own at being a traditional ball and socket joint. However it is truly amazing when working with the other structures of the body because it is able to deliver such a massive range of movement as well as being strong.

Comments

Osteoporosis

Osteoporosis is a condition that lots of us recognise, but do we really know what it is? It is a condition where your bones lose strength, this would not be noticed until you had a slip or a fall, you may not even know you have it. However because the bones have lost some of their strength a simple accident could end up causing a bone fracture (break). This condition impacts both females and males. How do the bones lose strength? Your bone are just as alive and changing as your skin. It is normal for us to shed some old skin as we grow new skin. In our bones, old bone is absorbed by cells called osteoclasts and then new bone is built by cells called osteoblasts. This process is know as bone remodeling and keeps our skeleton healthy. As we travel through phases of our life the hormones that balance this cycle change. As we get older some aspects of our bodies don't keep working as efficiently as they used to. Take the osteoclasts for example, who have worked at top spe

My feet are amazing! But how should I stand and why does this matter?

Each of your feet are amazing, I know that I did not appreciate my feet until I had a accident and one of my feet stopped working as well as it used to. My extreme sport of choice was piggy in the middle with my children on the beach, when I kick a stone. This has continued to impact my foot health for over 18 months (well I'm still recovering). Each of your feet are made up of 26 bones, 30 joints and more than 100 muscles, tendons and ligaments. Your feet are the most amazing mobile weight bearing structures around. When anatomists write about the foot, they often refer to the "bony architecture" of the foot. Now start to think about the structure of your foot as "bony architecture" and you can start understanding how you foot is similar to a vaulted church ceiling. Lots of individual bones precisely placed to fit together in an amazing arched structure. What is incredible about the foot is that there are three arches at work. You have the arch that yo

Pilates key principles: Control

In Pilates we aim to maintain a high level of control over the movements that we make. As you will have completed some Pilates with me, you will be aware that a small angle change in leg positioning or increased stability through the pelvis can suddenly increase the intensity of an exercise. When thinking about control it is very closely related to precision and you could say that these key principles come hand in hand. You will find that control is improved once you have made multiple attempts at an exercise. Muscles will increase in strength and your muscles will remember the movement of an exercise. Therefore when taking part in a class, stay at a level where you can maintain control. If you work at too high a level you will find it harder to master the control of position and movement and then perfect the exercise. When we have control over a movement we are also able to make the movement using only the muscles connected with that motion. An example of where things can go

Katie Leaver Pilates

Search This Blog