The rotator cuff is the tendons and four small muscles of the shoulder. These tendons and muscles are prone to injury from repetitive use. Rotator cuff exercises can help prevent injury and promote recovery after injury.

When people injure their rotator cuffs, they may be tempted to avoid moving the shoulder due to pain. A lack of movement of the shoulder can increase joint stiffness. Rotator cuff stretches and exercises help prevent frozen shoulder after a rotator cuff injury. Frozen shoulder is a condition that causes severe stiffness that inhibits the person's ability to move the shoulder.

Rotator cuff stretches should be done before and after doing rotator cuff exercises. If the person is recovering from a rotator cuff injury, some resources recommend applying an ice pack to the shoulder for twenty minutes after exercising.

Soon after the injury, the person should begin moving with passive rotator cuff exercises. An example of a passive rotator cuff exercise is to bend at the waist as if looking at the floor. The injured arm should be allowed to dangle loosely.

The person should shift their weight to cause the dangling arm to swing. The person may move the arm in circles as the arm dangles. With the passive rotator cuff exercise, the shoulder movement should be controlled by the movement of the body and not the shoulder muscles.

One shoulder stretch begins with the arm outstretched to the side. Keeping the arm straight at shoulder level, move the arm across the front of the body. With the other arm, grab the elbow and pull gently until a stretch is felt in the shoulder.

One of the commonly recommended rotator cuff muscle exercises begins with the person lying on their side with uninjured arm resting on the floor straight above their head. A rolled-up towel should be placed under the armpit. The upper arm of the arm closest to the ceiling should rest against the person's side.

The person's elbow should be bent at ninety degrees while holding a dumbbell in front of the stomach. While keeping the upper arm and elbow against their side, the person should slowly raise the forearm until it is parallel to the floor.

Shoulder shrugs are one form of rotator cuff exercise. Standing with arms relaxed at the sides, the person should raise their shoulders and hold this position for five seconds. After relaxing the shoulder, the person should repeat the shrugging motion.

This shoulder shrug exercise should be repeated up to ten times. If the person is not experiencing pain with this exercise, the person may want to try holding light-weight dumbbells while performing the shoulder shrug.

One rotator cuff exercise begins with holding light-weight dumbbells in each hand. The arms should be held at shoulder height with the elbows bent at ninety degrees. The forearms should be parallel to the floor.

The arms should be rotated so that the forearms are raised while the elbows remain bent at ninety degrees. The forearms should be slowly lowered to the starting position parallel to the floor. The rotator cuff exercise should be repeated up to fifteen times. The person should work up to doing two or three sets of fifteen.

Rotator cuff exercises should not be painful. If an rotator cuff stretch or exercise is painful, the person should stop and try again later. If a painful rotator cuff exercise uses dumbbells, the person may want to try using lighter weights.