Conventionally, much attention has been paid to surgical treatment as therapy for shoulder instability. However not only surgical treatment but also its effectiveness and the limitations of conservative therapy should be studied, and the possibilities of natural healing and the complexities of its pathology should be considered.
We carried out strengthening exercises of the rotator muscles in shoulder instability cases.
Ten patients 20 joints with inferior instability of the shoulder mostly complained of shoulder disturbance.
Isometric exercises of the rotator muscles which were proposed by Dr. Neer, were carried out for 8 weeks, and the physical finding, the stress X-p and the muscular power were evalulated at the start and end of each period over the 8 weeks.
The increasing rate of muscular power was significantly larger in the external rotators than that in the internal rotators. An improvement of symptoms was observed in all of the 15 joints with a shoulder disorder. The descending rate of the humeral head by stress X-p improved in 12 of the 15joints in which an increase of more than 10% muscular power in the internal or external rotators was recognized.
We consider that an improvement of symptoms and stability can be obtained by strengthening exercises of the rotator muscles in shoulder instability.
