The Shoulder is a ball and socket joint that is very mobile, allowing movements in many directions. For this to be possible the shoulder joint has a very small and shallow socket with a large ball, like a golf ball on a tee. This requires static stabilisers, ligaments and very importantly dynamic stabilisers, muscles. These muscles are the rotator cuff. The rotator cuff consists of 4 muscles, the include:
- Supraspinatus (on top of the shoulder blade)
- Subscapularus (on the front side of the shoulder blade)
- Infraspinatus (backside of the shoulder blade)
- Teres Minor (backside of the shoulder blade)
These 4 muscles need to work together to stabilise the shoulder joint. They also work to aide lifting and rotating the shoulder.
The rotator cuff muscles can be torn at the insertion, degenerative tears at the insertion, tendonopathy and associated inflammation of the bursae (fluid filled sack that protects the tendons).
These types of injuries can benefit from physiotherapy and specific strengthening exercises, although some may require surgical management also.
