Thrower's Ten:

http://www.asmi.org/SportsMed/media/thrower10.swf (flash movie)
http://www.asmi.org/SportsMed/throwing/thrower10.PDF (Adobe PDF)

These programs are highly recommended by various baseball doctors, including Dr. Frank Jobe and Dr. James Andrews. I have been doing them for years with five pound weights and SPRI bands of varying degrees of resistance. They definitely help strengthen your rotator cuff in both prehab and rehab situations.

I would also recommend the scapular exercises on T-Nation for related exercises that you can do with small weights, available here:

http://www.t-nation.com/findArticle....7-016-training

I hate my rotator cuffs. I blew out a rotator back in high school and missed out on an entire season of baseball. My rotator cuff issues were a big reason I never continued on to college baseball. I did rehab and got it better, but it's never been 100% again and I doubt it ever will. 7 years later, it still bothers me every once in awhile, but it's mostly okay. I do stretches and some internal and external dumbbell and band rotations, but probably not as consistently as I should.

People who still have healthy rotator cuffs: please start doing the exercises NOW. Don't wait until you blow them out. It sucks.

I'm going to take a look at these links. Thanks.

When your rotator cuff hurts, what part is it exactly? I've been getting very sore in both my shoulders after playing basketball lately. It's mostly the area right beneath where the shoulder seam on a T-shirt would be. Like the tendons feel tight or something. When they're sore, it hurts to support weight with a straight arm (like pulling a shopping bag out of a trunk or something). Does that sound right, or is that something else altogether? It's odd to me that basketball would cause this, but it might have something to do with poor office ergonomics + basketball. When they're sore, it hurts to support weight with a straight arm (like pulling a shopping bag out of a trunk or something).

Either way.. cool links. I'll start doing these a few times a week.

It's really tough to tell whether or not something is a rotator cuff injury without looking at it, and even then, it often requires an MRI. Simple things like poor posture or weak stabilization muscles (scapula, lower back, lats, core strength) can cause pain in the shoulder area. Even referral pain from the upper arm or extremities can be the source of the damage.

However, pain under the shoulder seam of the T-shirt could either be rotator cuff or labrum-related. You want the former to be the case - definitely NOT the latter.

Yeah great links, you inspired me to get some rubber bands.

My mom had a cuff injury and got a cortisone shot and apparently it did wonders; so that's a pretty easy cheap non-invasive thing to try.

I've never had a cortisone shot; the people I know who have had one (mainly indy/minor league players) all testify that they work wonders.

+



+



=



For an easy and effective at-home workout. In my opinion, too many people focus on the large muscle groups without doing the easy work with small weights for small muscles which are equally (if not more) important.

thanks for the helpful info. My son played baseball and had to get injections to help him. It cost over 4k and he's not playing today, so it bums him out. I will give him this info.

kyle,

What sort of reps would you suggest for the thrower's ten?

Also, for the ones with weights, what, like 5 lbs?

I do two circuits of them for each singular arm exercise at 10 reps, so 2x10 per exercise. Push-ups and other related activities to taste.

There's a few other exercises I do in place of or in addition to these. They are:


Empty the Can

-Front raises with supinated and pronated grips
-Wrist raises with supinated and pronated grips
-Arm circles with wrist weights

I would recommend 5 lb. weights - that's what I most commonly use. Sometimes I under and overload to mix it up with 3 pound, 8 pound, and 10 pound weights too.

EDIT: Also, doing this is probably good for your arms:

I've been reading a lot about this stuff to try to fix myself, and this tidbit really struck home :

http://www.sportsinjurybulletin.com/...-injuries.html


It also connects with kyle's post on the kinetic chain. I think this is how a lot of people continue to screw up their shoulders, and I realize I'm still doing it even as I try to rehab. You need to use your shoulder muscles just to stabilize the joint, not to muscle a throw. So if you just stand in place and don't use your leg power and try to throw a ball hard, you can really destroy your shoulder, but if you do a correct throw and get leg and hip drive, your shoulder should just be a transfer to your arm and not really generating the power.

Yep. Poor mechanics is what causes the ancillary muscles and bones to tear and break.