strengthening a weak rotator cuff muscle

Hi there,

I have a shoulder injury which I sustained about three years ago and really haven't had much luck in building my strength back. I can understand that maybe the cause of the delay in gaining strength may be due to the muscles not working properly, but I'm still stuck with not being able to move forward. If I don't do any sort of rehab exercises, it feels like I'm not moving towards gaining my strength back, but then again I know that it won't be particularly beneficial if the infrasprinatus is not working properly.

So I'm stuck in a double bind. My sports doctor has said that I need to strengthen the scapular stabilisations and posterior deltoid to pull my shoulder back. The physio wants me to do dry needling to try to free up the trigger points and I want to gain strength. I feel that it would make more sense to continue with a strength program whilst doing dry needling because one would hope that it would help start building muscle again.

In terms of where I want to gain strength, well the weakest positions are when I hold my right up in a 90 degree angle, and force is applied, going into a plank position where the weight is on my the front of my shoulders, and tricep dips. All of which cause pain near the long head of the biceps tendon. Also should I be working on strengthening my back and core muscles? Any ideas on the type of exercises I should be trying in the gym will be greatly appreciated.