Customer Reviews

Treat Your Own Rotator Cuff

5 star:		(42)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I could have saved over $1500 in doctor and physical therapy bills had I read this book after the first Dr visit. If you have shoulder pain, please don't hesitate, buy this book! I now have an immense respect for Jim Johnson.

After 5 months of little progress, I finally found this book and about 6 weeks later I'm back to all my normal sports, full tilt.

The research on strength building and stretching in general was mind blowing! Wow, how could this information be so hidden? Unfortunately, too many people profit from non-health.

JJ will show you the absolute fastest and most efficient way to fix your shoulder. By all means, get several opinions before getting surgery. Both doctors left surgery on the table when my tear was very minor.

Yes, they do not want you to read this book!

Jim, if you're reading this, thank you from the bottom of my heart! You are a great man.

P.S. Even if you never had any back issues, buy his back book. After you build up core strength in your back (2 minutes, 3 times a week, yes, really) then you only need to do it once a week to maintain that strength. And no stretching needed. A small price to pay to avoid back pain.

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.

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.

This is the second book of Jim Johnson's that I have bought. The first one fixed my back pains with a simple exercise to strengthen the Multifidus muscles.

The exercises in this book has significantly reduced pain and increased mobility in my left shoulder, allowing me to sleep through the night and lift my arm over my shoulder.

Just the information needed to help you and not more! That's "Treat Your Own Rotator Cuff." Johnson writes clearly for the non-medical-professional, so you'll understand his message easily and get started right away (today).

About six months ago, I fell. A perfect four-point landing, I thought at the time, but it turned out to be more, much more. Within a month I began having trouble pulling a shirt on over my head. Then shoulder and arm pain settled in full time.

I decided to forego conventional medical treatment (for example, shots and surgery), and the pain continued. In fact, it not only continued, but grew so much worse that I considered revising my decision about the shots. However, finding this book and reading the glowing recommendations for it, I decided giving managing the problem on my own one last try.

Of course, getting the book did not solve the problem by itself. I had to use the information to stretch and exercise. So I did, and, sure enough, after a couple of weeks I saw both improved range of motion and less pain.

The stretches and exercises are not necessarily pleasant, but the results make it worth the effort.

If you have rotator cuff pain, get this book. Regardless of whether you decide on conventional solutions to the problem, you'll need the stretches and exercises to regain full range of motion. Stick with the program. It works!

Highly recommended.

This is a great book that concisely explains the anatomy and physiology of the rotator cuff including the bones, muscles, biomechanics, etc. in just enough detail for the average person to understand. It also describes how to distinguish between different types of injuries, how to approach rehabilitating them and collects a lot of rotator cuff injuries in one small volume. While the book is rather expensive for its size, it packs a lot of well-explained information into a small space.

I'm an ex-physiology teaching fellow and scientist. I thought this book was great and turned something that is often difficult to explain into something anyone who can read can understand. The diagrams are good and the book contains no unnecessary detail.

I also agree with other reviewers that while Jim Johnson isn't an expert on rotator cuffs, his book is thoroughly researched and he does have a PT credential and has undoubtedly had 15 years of clinical experience in a teaching hospital environment. This suggests he has a very good nuts and bolts understanding and hands-on experience.

Unlike another critical reviewer here, I think that there is great benefit to understanding how your rotator cuff works before detailing exercises for strengthening it. To this aim, Wikipedia can help greatly. If you can't seem to grasp the information on Wikipedia, maybe this book would be a good bet.

However, I, for one, didn't care for having to sort through pages of substance-anemic content to cherry-pick the useful bits; it took me a day to review what I should have been able to glean in one hour.

For example, do I need, in my book on rotator cuffs, to read three pages about how a randomized controlled trial works? IF I don't already know, then I can look it up. Or put it in a glossary; that's what glossaries are for. Do I need to read wordy, precise details of each study? Cite the study, describe the outcome, and be done with it. _Maybe_ put the details in an appendix; either way, I can look it up later if I like. Do I need constant repetition, reminding, and teaching that appears to be geared toward a child? If you read each of these critiques thinking, "that's exactly what I need!" then you won't be disappointed.

"Treat Your Own Rotator Cuff" is not a cheap book, and there honestly isn't a whole lot of content. It _does_ contain some useful information, but getting to this information with the limited table of contents, without section references, with no table of diagrams, with random pointless tangents, and with NO INDEX, can be frustrating.

I was afraid I would never be able to lift weights again. Both of my shoulders were in pain, even causing me to have to lie on my back to sleep. I read this book carefully, and have followed the exercise exactly as he directs, and I have zero pain in my shoulders now ! Zero ! And I'm back to lifting weights !
I can't tell you how impressed I am with the research that went into Mr. Johnson's work. He only goes by scientific evidence based upon peer-reviewed, randomized controlled trials. This stuff really works!
By the way, I had the same experience with my back problems after reading "Treat Your Own Back" by Dr. McKenzie
Thank you Mr. Johnson!
Ken
Los Angeles, CA

I suffered a rotator cuff injury about five weeks ago that left me with little pain but some restricted movement. I'm under the care of a physical therapist right now, and I bought this book to get a cheap second opinion on how to treat this injury.

The highlights of this book include a brief but well written overview of just what a rotator cuff is and how it works. I wish the drawings were larger and clearer, and that's why I coulndn't give this book a five star rating.

The other highlight, to me anyway, is the section containing descriptions of all the exercises that are used to rehabilitate a rotator cuff.

That said, I don't think this book actually gave me any knowledge that I would not have already obtained without it. Just during doctor and physical therapy visits I learned all about the rotator cuff and the bones and muscles, and that the one thing that is needed to settle exactly what injury you are dealing with is an MRI. Also, the exercise descriptions are rather standard and ironically my physical therapist assigned me three new exercises the morning after I read about them in this book.

Still, this book was enouraging to me if for no other reason that it quoted a number of studies that prove the importance of exercise to rehabilitate a shoulder after such an injury.

But the bottom line to me is that nobody should just try to "treat their own" rotator cuff injury without consultation with a doctor and without some physical therapy.

Postscript. About a year after my injury occurred, it had corrected itself. My sports doctor said it would take about a year to heal, and that's exactly what happened. No exercises seemed to make a difference. It seemed to be a minor inflammation of a lining around a bone in a socket, and when that inflammation goes away, movement returns.

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.