Treat Your Own Rotator Cuff
by Jim Johnson
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Book Reviews of Treat Your Own Rotator Cuff
Book Review: Review of "Treat Your Own Rotator Cuff"
Summary: 5 Stars
I ordered this book for my brother-in-law who has experienced shoulder pain and not being able to lift his arm higher than shoulder level due to a rotator cuff injury he received in the past. I recommended it to him because of the wonderful results I got using the information in this book to treat my own right shoulder pain.
Having previously read Jim Johnson's "The Sixty-Second Motivator" and finding it very helpful, I can tell you that I certainly had the motivation to try and stick with an exercise that would relieve my painful and restricting condition. And it sounded to me like my brother-in-law was in the same boat.
I used the Sidelying External Rotation exercise on page 55 of the rotator cuff book and got great results. The first time I tried it I could only manage to raise a 20 ounce can of pineapple about half way up less than ten times. I found the detailed instruction, precautions and notes particularly helpful and feel that carefully following them was why I experienced the gradual recovery. My wife sat beside me making sure I did the exercise slowly and exactly as the book states. After about four weeks I actually worked up to fully raising the can of pineapple 20 times. Later on I increased the weight little by little and began to feel good enough to resume some of the more physically demanding activities on our small farm.
Last week I was actually able to assist with harvesting our hay and didn't suffer during or afterward from any of the shoulder pain or stiffness that I had previously experienced many times. Yes, I was careful about what I did and how I worked, but for me to even attempt to try stacking a 60 pound bale of hay was completely out of the question a few months ago. I went from shoulder pain that caused me sleepless nites and not being able to lift my right arm any higher than shoulder level, to what I consider a darned good day's work.
This book is a real bargain and indeed I consider it invaluable when I think about how it helped me. And as you can see, I heartily recommend it.
Book Review: Well, it worked
Summary: 5 Stars
I hurt my rotator cuffs doing some bag work. I waited a long time (I'm a guy) to go into an ortho. He gave me the advice to work on my posture, lose weight and a photocopy of some exercises to do. Told me that how I injured myself didn't matter, fixing it was what counted. Well, posture and losing weight solved that problem.
Had a completely different feeling problem. Went back after eight months of worsening pain. Same diagnosis, they told me it was "referred pain" which was why it felt completely different. Same exercises. You can find them all over the internet.
Didn't do much for me. I slowly got more or less better on my own. But, I had nagging pain every morning, the exercises and stretches did nothing for me.
Rather than go back, I decided to try this book first, based on recommendations from a friend I followed up.
First, the explanations aside, the core of the book is short. You are only going to do about four exercises and four stretches at any one time. There are routines for severe to very mild problems (beginning to advanced).
Second, the explanations made sense and I've been able to apply them to a few other areas.
But, it has been less than a month and I'm waking up pain free from time to time, the first time in a very long time.
Would I pay this much for a paperback? Not usually, but it was a lot better than blowing half a day off from work seeing the ortho sports med guy again. Would I buy a book when the internet is swimming with essays, charts, etc.?
Well, but for the fact it works and the free stuff didn't, no. But the free stuff doesn't quite put it all together the way this does and it didn't quite do the trick.
If you've got pain, if your doctor's routines haven't really done much for you, if the internet hasn't led you anywhere new, you might really want to try this book. It has details on how to do things, number of repetitions, how long to hold the stretches, etc.
Simple? Yes. Five to ten minutes a day simple, but just the right five to ten minutes a day have made all the difference for me.
Book Review: If your shoulder is injured, don't hesitate to buy this
Summary: 5 Stars
For starters, I had not one but two injured shoulders. Each was injured in a different way, and the injuries affected different parts of the rotator cuff. The first injury had my right shoulder sub-optimal for over a year. After the second injury (from a bike accident), I was pretty close to being incapacitated. Things like...how shall I say this...using toilet paper...were agonizing.
So, I bought the book. In 6 weeks, I was much improved. Three months later, and I am fully functional, lifting more weights in the gym than ever, not even aware of having been injured. I've had this book make the rounds with 2 of my work colleagues, who are much better for it. I've built up my shoulders to the point that future injury is much less likely.
What's great about this book? It could be entitled, "Shoulder injuries for dummies." It is written at about a 3rd grade reading comprehension level. To me, that's a good thing, and a credit to the author to boil down the complexities of the rotator cuff to where everyone can understand it. And in fact, you don't even really need to understand what's wrong; all you need to do is the exercises. I think that the explanations are just to convince you that the exercises work, so that you will get on with doing them.
As for the exercises, they are ridiculously easy. I mean, two minutes per day, per shoulder (in my case, two shoulders, 4 minutes). The exercises (for building muscle and flexibility) will not cause you pain; in fact, if you are feeling pain, you need to back off to the easier versions. The exercises are simple, require no special equipment, and only take up a couple of pages in an already short book.
Is it worth the money? Consider the time you spend suffering and going to physio (if you can afford it) and filling out insurance forms (if you have insurance). Yes, it is worth it. I only wish that more in the medical profession would put patients over profits. Sometimes we need doctors, but often we can treat ourselves with the right knowledge. For rotator cuff injuries, this book is the knowledge you need.
Book Review: Practical, Effective and to the Point
Summary: 5 Stars
I found Jim Johnson's book to contain an amazing amount of information in a relatively short read. There are several very good reviews that detail what he covers in this book so I'll stick to points not covered by the other reviews.
First, yes, it is a small book. This is actually a bonus because he covers the pertinant material thoroughly but keeps the book to a size easily read in one sitting. This is important when you are looking for answers and not a lengthy read. I found illustrations and the text were all useful - there is no filler or fluff in this book.
Second - the stretches and exercises are explained in detail so you can be comfortable with the knowledge you are doing it right. So, as you follow one of the 3 programs laid out, you can refer back to the detailed descriptions and illustration as needed. If you are a picture person and not a verbal person, this is priceless to have on hand.
Third - the information on how to distinguish the different types of injuries and how to approach rehabilitation gave me insight to what was going on with my own injury that no professional I had taken this problem to have ever bothered to explain. Again, illustrations were to the point and provided clarity that words can't always deliver.
Last, I have sought medical advice with my shoulder problems off and on for years yet this book gave me more information in a 30 minute read than I had gotten in any consultation. This book is priced around $30 retail and that is far less than a doctor or physio visit.
Note that I am *NOT* saying to skip seeking medical advice, I am saying that this book gives you a ready reference to supplement your knowledge and to keep on hand while treating your injury. If you are like me, the shoulder problems you have will quite possibly reoccur as time goes by and you either quit doing the exercises and revert to bad habits or if you find a new way to injure yourself. So, having this book handy for reference is far more economical the returning to the doctor over and over again.
Book Review: Great Book For Shoulder Pain
Summary: 5 Stars
Having suffered with three broken shoulders with arthritus in them, I highly recommend this book for people with shoulder problems. The book gives you an understanding of the shoulder area and some really good exercises to help you stretch and strengthen your shoulder muscles. The exercises are easy to do and don't require a lot of expensive equipment to perform them. As my chirpractor and I agree, if you don't use it, you loose it.
Another book to consider purchasing along with this one is "The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook" by Clair and Amber Davies, which is a tremendous resource for people in pain. Stretchening and strengthening your muscles, without first dealing with the knots (trigger points) in them can cause more pain. After having tried many natural remedies for my shoulder pain, I've found this trigger point program coupled with the shoulder exercises works best for dealing with pain. Glucosamine while it helped, did not totally alleviate the pain. Magnet therapy helped for awhile, but eventually made the pain worse. Chiropractic treatments, which used trigger point therapy worked for a time, but then my knots would return and cause pain. I didn't know the importance of at least six times a day massaging your central trigger points until the knots are gone.
"The Trigger Point Therapy Wookbook" has excellent information on the muscles. It also has excellent charts which help you locate specific trigger point (knots in your muscles) which cause pain. It tells you how to message those painful areas to get rid of the knots in your muscles. While the information is thorough, it is written for the lay person in an understandable way.
I also highly recommend a Thera Cane, which is like having very long, totally mobile arms, which enable you to message hard to reach trigger points. These three excellent products work together for effectice pain relief. While these two books and Thera Cane may seem expensive, they are much cheaper than repeated Chiropractic visits.