One of the most accepted methods for simulating deformable objects is the Finite Element Method (FEM). Linear elements are very fast but are only appropriate for small deformations. When user interactive simulations are considered, big deformations are involved and it is better to use a Corotational Finite Element Method (CoFEM) approach. We address the problem of robust and efficient treatment of element inversion in the CoFEM for deformable objects in 2D and 3D, and show that existing degeneration treatment methods have previously unreported flaws that seriously threaten robustness and physical plausibility in interactive applications. We propose a new method that avoids such flaws, yields faster and smoother degeneration recovery without adding significant computational cost.