Rotator cuff work in addition to H1/F1?

The dislocates in H1 tend to leave me with a sore infraspinatus muscle on my left scapula. This is most likely due to some sort of compensation for smaller shoulder ROM caused by labrum tear surgery six years ago. As far as I know, the surgeons deliberately tighten up the joint somewhat during the procedure in order to prevent future dislocation.

I do self massage with a tennis ball and stretch the infraspinatus, and that seems to work quite well. However, I was wondering if it would be prudent to include a rotator cuff strengthening routine alongside H1/F1, or is this stuff already built sufficiently into the curriculum, making extra work redundant?

I'd rather not do rotator cuff specific work, as I've got enough on my plate already, but I am getting a bit unnerved by this soreness, I don't want to screw myself up, as I tend to do.

Thoughts?

PS: I think I am being quite reasonable with the broomstick dislocates, having scaled back to a very wide grip and ~3.5 kg. Still, as I lift the weight back over the shoulders to the front, it is as if something is pinching slightly in the left shoulder. I don't know how different my left shoulder is from my right one, anatomically speaking, but I can tell that on the anterior deltoids, the arrangement of muscle fibers is quite different. On the left shoulder there's a deep groove between the anterior and medial deltoids, while this is not the case on the right. I guess it is conceivable that the left shoulder may also be different in the rear, especially since they left a small incision scar there. Weird.

if you joint is more locked to prevent more dislocation you need to increase the strength over internal rotator (like subscapularis and minor pec), this is necessary to prevent dislocation from involuntary movements. the injuried shoulders probably seems to work more since the ratio between bones/ligaments/tendons was modified with the surgery. be careful with the strengthening of the external rotator.

H1 provides the necessary work for external rotator. you can adjust the weight so that you need top use a larger grip in the beginning and stimulate more the rotator cuff, when you can move it closer you will focus on traps.

I personally find the last 3 exercises of Ido Portals scapula mobilisation routine to be magic. Its fixed both a shoulder problem and a chest/pectoral problem (unrelated problems with much time inbetween) after not even a week of doing them once a day. Maybe try just one set with a light elastic band on your rest days and see if it helps?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4Wo095zPnc

Ok guys, will check it out, thanks!

alex87 said:

if you joint is more locked to prevent more dislocation you need to increase the strength over internal rotator (like subscapularis and minor pec), this is necessary to prevent dislocation from involuntary movements. the injuried shoulders probably seems to work more since the ratio between bones/ligaments/tendons was modified with the surgery. be careful with the strengthening of the external rotator.

H1 provides the necessary work for external rotator. you can adjust the weight so that you need top use a larger grip in the beginning and stimulate more the rotator cuff, when you can move it closer you will focus on traps.

That's an interesting distinction and suggests that there is a place for work on a wider grip too. Any more information on this?