Written by: Jonah Blatt, Registered Physiotherapist, MScPT, BScHK

So, you may have heard someone say they hurt their rotator cuff at some point. Maybe you’ve even been told that your rotator cuff could be what’s causing those nagging shoulder problems you’ve been feeling.

Great, but what does that even mean?

The rotator cuff is a group of 4 muscles that sit right around the shoulder, are incredibly important in helping it function, but can often be involved when we’re experiencing shoulder pain.

Those 4 muscles are the supraspinatus, infraspinatus, teres minor, and subscapularis.

Supraspinatus helps you lift your arm to the side, and overtop of your head. Think reaching up to get something off the top shelf.

Infraspinatus and Teres Minor work together to rotate your arm away from the center of your body. An example here would be reaching into the backseat of the car to get something.

Subscapularis primarily rotates the arm towards the middle of the body. This may be used when pulling something towards you, or reaching behind you to reach your belt loops.

The most important thing about the rotator cuff though? These 4 muscles working together to stabilize your shoulder! Each of them is responsible for their own movements, and we use these movements as part of our shoulder assessment to help us understand which one may be more involved, but the most important function of the rotator cuff is how they interact with each other to stabilize the shoulder joint.

How the rotator cuff holds the shoulder in place when you’re resting, or while you’re doing movements, can be a really important part of proper shoulder function and avoiding pain. If the rotator cuff isn’t holding up it’s end of the bargain and stabilizing the shoulder the way we want it to, figuring out how to create that stability through specific movements and a tailored exercise program can be REALLY helpful!

If you’ve been told that your rotator cuff is a part of your shoulder pain, or have injured your shoulder in the past, having a Physiotherapist assess and treat your shoulder may help you reduce your pain and get back to doing the things you care about.