Treat Your Own Rotator Cuff

UPDATE 11/23/11 - I don't usually "update" my reviews as some do, but I wanted to extol the virtues of this very simple yet effective book and support the author in any way I can. Chances are if you are looking at reviews then you are where I was about two weeks ago. Searing, agonizing pain in my left shoulder anytime I lifted or rotated my arm a certain way. I have been doing these exercises for less than a week and I would estimate an almost complete recovery in my left shoulder. This is the same shoulder attached to the same arm that I couldn't lift to put on a sweater just ONE WEEK AGO. When sitting in a chair with arm-rests I had to keep my arm by my side because placing it on an arm-rest caused intense pain. I have been performing the stretching exercises the author recommends twice daily and will begin the strength training exercises as soon as I obtain a pair of light weights. I now understand that I have an inherent weakness in this shoulder so I hopefully continue doing these exercises. Once again, it is astonishing how quickly these exercises corrected my shoulder problems. To the author, once again, thank you....On a recent episode of PARKS AND RECREATION, the character of Ron Swanson comments on his philosophy of recommendations. He states (and I am abbreviating) that he doesn't recommend anything he doesn't use and love. He then goes on to extol the virtues of a "military-issue mustache trimmer". Funny stuff. What isn't funny was the pain and discomfort I experienced until I purchased this invaluable book. As background, I am a 52 year old male, in reasonably decent shape. I do quite a bit of work around our house, which we just recently renovated. Lots of lifting, cutting, chopping, sawing....so a great deal of shoulder strain. About 3 months ago I developed a slightly stiff shoulder. Within a month this pain became almost unbearable. I was unable to lift my arm above shoulder length without SEARING pain in my shoulder area. My shoulder would not rotate, instead I had to move my entire body to accommodate my aching shoulder. I tried a prescription of Prednisone and when that didn't help I started taking three or four Advil just to do the basic, daily chores. I tried icing the shoulder, then slathering it with one of about 10 different rub-on liniments that people had recommended. I tried hot baths and hot showers. I used a compression shirt from UnderArmour because that seemed to help with my sore tennis elbow at times. Sleeping at night was a nightmare because every time I turned over the shoulder pain would wake me up. In fact, the only activity that provided any relief was raking leaves. Something in that motion was stretching out a muscle or a tendon, but then I ran out of leaves to rake. (One of the exercises in this book mimics the action of leaf-raking). All of these remedies provided at best, temporary relief. I never consulted a doctor or had an MRI done on the shoulder, but friends told me I had a frozen shoulder and possibly a tear in my rotator cuff. The pain got worse and worse until about a week ago when I needed help to raise my arm high enough so I could wear a sweater.Three days ago I received this book. Instead of just rushing to the chapters where the exercises are located I started at the beginning and I am really glad I did. The author provides detailed explanations and drawings, which fully describe the various joints, muscles, and tendons at work in the shoulder area. Then I got to the stretching exercises. After doing all the exercises that first day I noticed I slept a little more comfortably that evening. On the second day of performing the exercises I noticed about a 10% reduction in pain with some improved mobility. Now it is day three and I can't believe it but I CAN LIFT MY ARM ABOVE MY HEAD. Yes of course there is still some pain, but it isn't the searing stabbing pain I had experienced. In fact I just reached up for something on a high shelf without experiencing any stabbing pain. THESE EXERCISES REALLY DO WORK. I don't know if the exercises will work for everyone with agonizing shoulder pain but it is working for me. I cannot thank this author enough for making this book available so thank you, thank you, thank you!

This book is simple and lays out a straightforward regimen for what to do to heal yourself. It backs up the advice and reasoning behind the regimen with scientific studies. It explains the anatomy so you can get a better understanding for what might have gone wrong and why the injury occurred in the first place. I have only been doing the regimen for a couple days but have already noticed about a 25% improvement in my pain and range of movement. It is a basic handbook that gives detailed and concrete advice that seems to work. The pictures are basic but enough to get the idea across. The author doesn't overwhelm you with hundreds of exercises - just enough to let you spend a couple minutes a days and feel results. I appreciate that. I did a lot of internet surfing and was depressed to see a lot articles that seem to point to surgery being the recommended solution. I find it surprising that many of the critical reviews say you can find this information on the internet. Maybe you can find strengthening exercises and stretches scattered here and there, but I didn't see anything that lays it out in such simple regimen backed by scientific studies. I have had a lot of injuries lately and I have been buying lots of self healing books for hips, knee, etc. None of the other books provides the information in such a logical concrete way. This is the only one that just tells me what to do to make the pain better and has actually helped me. If only I could find something like this to fix my hip joints. If anyone has recommendations for that it would be great.1 MONTH UPDATE: It really does work. While I can still feel something is not perfect, my shoulder is actually stronger now than it was before my injury. When I first got injured I was in so much pain that putting on my shirt was difficult. I took a few weeks off from martial arts class to rest my shoulder in the hopes it would heal. But it really didn't get much better after the rest. I was worried I'd have to get surgery. I have been doing the regimen diligently for about a month now and I am back in martial arts class doing all my punches and my forms with no problems. My muscles have strengthened enough to provide the support my shoulder needs to be stable. I also went to a doctor and physical therapist to get their opinion and for the most part their recommendations were very close to those in the book. But by the time I had gone to see the doctor I felt like I had mostly recovered already. My advice would be to try this regimen but be careful of following directions exactly - which means don't push yourself too hard, only do the stretches and exercises to the point where you are working hard but don't feel pain. If you push too hard, I think you can hurt yourself more.

I've been using this program for 8 weeks now, and my rotator cuff pain has completely subsided. I plan to finish the 12 week program and then really put the cuff to some harsh tests.Count me as among those people who think Jim Johnson is on the right track with his simple-is-better books and programs. I appreciated the lack of fluff in this easy to read book and the no-nonsense research-proven program. It has been proven several times that I just don't stick to physical therapy programs that take half the day and involve dozens of stretches. This quick, simple program is proving much more consistently doable for me than other programs given to me by physical therapists.If I want to linger over a book for days, I prefer a good novel, not a book on shoulder pain. Yet there is enough information in this book that I learned some things that will help me in other stretching routines I'm undertaking.So why 4 stars instead of 5? Because I'm puzzled by what the strength ratios of the internal versus external rotators should be, and Johnson's book is silent on that topic. My internal rotators are many times stronger than my external rotators, but advice from exercise sites on the net say there should be a 2:1 or 3:2 strength ratio. So should I stop doing the internal rotator exercises until the externals do some catching up? Don't know and might have to consult a physical therapist or trainer to find out.