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Hurt Your Shoulder Skiing? Want to Know if You Have a Rotator Cuff Injury?

Skiing is an exciting sport that gives you an intense adrenaline rush. However, with the twists, turns, jumps, and falls involved in skiing, certain injuries may occur. One of these is a rotator cuff injury, which can limit your movement and cause sharp shoulder pains.

Learn more about this type of injury, including its causes and symptoms, along with some exercises to help you recover faster.

What is a Rotator Cuff Injury?

The group of muscles that surround the shoulder joint is called the rotator cuff. It secures your upper arm bone, the humerus, securely within the shallow socket of the shoulder. With a fall while skiing, or with repeated use of ski poles, an injury may occur in this area. Some activities other than skiing that can trigger a rotator cuff injury include tennis, baseball, and weightlifting. Age can be an increased risk factor for this condition.

Rotator Cuff Injury Symptoms

A rotator cuff injury may vary from inflammation to small splits to more serious tears. Symptoms linked with this condition include the following:

The intensity of the pain may also depend on certain movements or positions. For instance, you might experience a sharp pain each time you reach backward. There is also a greater degree of pain while reaching upward, pushing or pulling.. Picking up an item out of the back seat of your car or reaching into the cupboard may worsen the symptoms. In some rare cases, a person with a torn rotator cuff may experience only weakness, but no pain despite the injury.

Exercises to Ease the Pain

The following are some exercises you can perform to help reduce pain caused by a rotator cuff injury. These can be done in conjunction with your rehabilitation program.

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