The Tiny Muscles That Cause Intense Pain After 50 (How To Fix)

Will Harlow, the over-50s specialist physio, shows us how:

Reaching for good health

The rotator cuff is a collection of four small, deep shoulder muscles that stabilize your shoulder joint and keep your arm securely in its socket during movement. Unlike larger muscles, their primary role is stability rather than producing power.

However, that also means that everyday activities don’t challenge the rotator cuff enough, and so the muscles gradually weaken with age. This can make certain things painful that otherwise need not be, such as reaching overhead, reaching into cupboards, putting on a coat, just generally rotating your arm, or even just sleeping on your side.

A quick weakness check: hold a light resistance band with your elbows by your sides and rotate your hands outward. Shaking or noticeably greater weakness on one side can indicate that the rotator cuff needs strengthening.

If that’s something you then want to do, here’s how to do it:

• External rotation: this is the key exercise because it strengthens three of the four rotator cuff muscles. Keep your elbow as a pivot point and rotate your forearm outwards in a controlled motion, then return to the starting position. Use whichever of these suits you best, and if possible, work your way to the more advanced form, if that’s not where you started.
  • Easiest: anchor the band around hip height, keep your elbow slightly away from your side, and rotate your arm outwards.
  • Intermediate: stand on one end of the band with your opposite foot, position your working arm just below 90° to your side, and rotate your thumb backwards. If this position causes discomfort, allow your elbow to drift slightly forwards.
  • Advanced: use a very light weight while supporting your body on a bed or sofa. Keep your elbow against your leg and rotate your forearm upwards, then slowly lower it back down.
• Internal rotation: this often gets overlooked even though it strengthens the fourth rotator cuff muscle. Attach a resistance band high up, stand facing away from the anchor, raise your working arm with your thumb pointing backwards, and then rotate your forearm downwards while keeping your elbow as the pivot point.

All that said, please do be sensible. If you currently have shoulder pain, it’s worth getting it checked out before starting these exercises, unless you’ve already done so. The goal is to strengthen the rotator cuff without aggravating an existing problem.

For more on all of this plus visual demonstrations, enjoy;

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Want to learn more?

You might also like this book we reviewed:

Shoulders Range – by Elia Bartolini

Take care!