About a year ago I quit the gym, stopped swimming, stopped lifting weights, and stopped going to exercise classes. In exchange, I signed up for membership at a Yoga studio and filled all my exercise time with Yoga and learning to become a Yoga teacher. Right before the change, I went to the doctor for shoulder pain I was having. He gave me a cortisone shot and chalked it up to the exercise schedule I had. So about 8 months into my new past time, the pain began coming back. If the pain was caused by repetitive motions, swimming, and lifting weights using the same routine, why was it coming back when all I was doing was Yoga?
So, I began to do what I was taught. I began to really take notes on what my body was doing, the way I pushed and pulled and lifted and stretched. And one day I went to my teacher’s class, and she used a strap technique that we refer to as “shoulder flossing”. I immediately felt excruciating pain in my shoulder and realized that in most of the classes I taught, and most of the classes I took, we were only building strength in our shoulders. We didn’t spend a lot of time increasing mobility in our shoulders.
Lesson 1: Find Mobility in your shoulders
So, from that day forward I began to talk about it, think about it, and teach the importance of shoulder mobility and began putting shoulder mobility exercises into all my classes. But the pain didn’t go away. It was better, but it didn’t subside completely.
I was at home one day and was stretching my shoulder contemplating having it surgically removed when I began to just think about what would feel good for my shoulder beyond more mobility. I went downstairs to the basement and picked up a 10lb dumbbell. Not enough. Then a 25lb dumbbell. Not enough. Then a 35lb dumbbell. Then I began moving it around with a common exercise referred to as a single-arm bench-supported row. A similar exercise can be achieved with a Kroc row when you are standing or by rowing if you have a row machine. The point is what felt good was pulling. Using my arm and shoulder to pull something rather than push, as we so often do in Yoga.
Lesson 2: Need more pulling to counter all the pushing
Single-arm bench supported row
So, with that said, there are 2 issues. One is, I’m already injured. Two is once I’m healed and balanced how can I use Yoga to prevent this sort of thing from happening again and more importantly how can I teach so that I can help my students like Jen, who like the more aggressive intense side of Yoga? Let’s look at the specifics of what’s happening.
When you take your arms overhead, the deltoid can raise the arm to about 80 degrees from the body. (T-Shape) At this point, the deltoid can’t do much more lifting on its own: the arm bone is almost level with the shoulder, and from this angle, the deltoid can only pull the arm bone into the joint rather than lift it higher. As the arm continues to rise, the deltoid relaxes and the supraspinatus jumps in to help it raise the arm for the next 30 to 40 degrees, after which the deltoid can resume its work. Due to this mechanism, a shortened deltoid muscle can cause the arm bone and the acromion process to pinch the supraspinatus. (Keller)
In Yoga we do a lot to help build our deltoid muscles. Here is a list of common poses that strengthen our deltoids:
Plank (Phalakasana)
Side Plank (Vasisthasana)
Downward Facing Dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana)
Dolphin (Makarasana)
Forearm Plank (Phalakasana)
Chaturanga Dandasana
Headstand
Handstand
Crow
The problem with a strengthened deltoid and a weak supraspinatus is the aforementioned pinching. It’s the strength of one muscle against the weakness of another that causes the imbalance in the muscles and joints and thus, the pain in the shoulder. Relaxing our shoulders isn’t enough to stop the imbalance because relaxing our shoulders often relaxes both the deltoid and the supraspinatus.
Here are some common poses that we do to relax the shoulders:
Thread the needle
Wide leg forward fold with clasped hands
Sarva Hita Asana “The Crawl” (windmill arms 1 at a time)
Raising our shoulders up and back in a circle
Shoulder flossing or shoulder circles with a strap
“Shoulder Circling” with fingertips on shoulders
Hasta Uttanasana (cross hands above head)
Gomukhasana
Garudasana – Active push and pull with the arm bind
Prone Shoulder Stretch Pose
And finally, some things we can do to counter common push movements:
Sphinx and consciously pull your body forward
Dandasana with strap or resistance band.
Pada hastasana, Hand under foot pose if you have the mobility
Seated Leg Lift. Use your foot to pull away from your shoulders by holding your foot up with your hand.
Strap movements. Use the resistance from one arm and pull with the other on both sides.
Upward Plank pose. Place a Yoga blanket, folded to about the size of a Yoga mat, directly on the floor. Lie belly-down on the blanket and reach your arms forward to frame your ears with your palms on the floor (your entire body, except for your arms, is on the blanket). On an exhale, keep your palms firmly on the floor and pull your body forward toward your hands as your torso raises to upward facing dog. (Rawlings)
Reverse Plank Pose
Sidelying External Rotation. On your side, with a block or weight (2lb) place your elbow on your side ribs with weight straight out from your body and with your elbow and arm on your body lift or rotate the weight upward.
Full Can. Using just your hand or a 1lb or 2lb weight hold the weight like a can of soda 45 degrees from your body, lift to about a 90-degree angle, and lower.
90/90 External Rotation. In tabletop, with your hand or weight, bend our elbow 90 degrees and raise and lower your hand rotating your shoulder.
Prone Y. In tabletop, bring your hand with or without a weight straight out 45 degrees and squeeze your scapula as you raise and lower your hand.
Warrior 2. Rotate hands to face the back corner of the room. Rotate the hands to face the ceiling
Standing Deltoid Stretch. Straight arm across the chest, lightly pressing the elbow with the opposite hand
By making some slight conscious decisions in our Yoga classes, we can be on our way to a more balanced Yoga life. Your shoulders will thank me 2 to 5 years from now! If you have any ideas how we can add some “pull” to our Yoga please share!
Gopi girls or Gopika are consorts and devotees of Krishna. Gopis are often considered as the expansion of goddess Radha, the chief consort of Krishna. Gopis are considered as the eternal beloved and manifestation of the internal spiritual potency of Krishna.
