Rounded mid and upper back in Downward Dog

Yoga Discussion General Yoga
#1

Greetings all!

Anyone have any suggestions on what to do when a student has a rounded mid and upper back? I know rounded low back can be calves /hamstrings and with upper back rounding it’s tight shoulders. I know appropriate modifications and adjustments. But this particular student has more rounding in mid and some in upper. She has never liked this position and I would like to make it more comfortable for her. She wears wrist supports for her carpal tunnel (which is not an issue currently) Could it be she is resistant to fully engage in the pose due to fear of re-injury to wrists?

Thoughts/suggestions?

Thanks!

#2

Hi Lotusgirl,
My first thought was that she’s compensating to protect her wrists. I’m not sure what I’d suggest though. Maybe have her practice against the wall at home to build confidence in the pose? Show her how to do that in the studio. But that doesn’t help with what to do in the course of class. I’ll be curious to read suggestions from others on this one.

Namaste:)

#3

That too was my first thought. She does have tighter hamstrings, but does most other poses quite well. Another thought is tight rhomboids perhaps. This would prohibit movement of scapulae down and in toward spine, thus creating a rounded mid and upper back. I had RTC surgery about 7 mounts ago and the most difficult muscle, next to the Deltoid, to get moving again was the Rhomboids. Pause…OK I’m back. I just took a moment to try to get in down dog with a rounded mid and upper back. The only way I could was to not move the shoulder blades. Could be a combo of weak upper body/shoulder muscles which contributed to the carpal tunnel which contributes to keeping those muscles weak. Just a theory! Hum…

#4

AUM.

AUM.

AUM.

AUM.

AUM.

Arms behind. Clasp your fingers toghether. Raise arms and fold foreward.

Sit or stand and do the upper portion of Garuda.

Sit or stand and do upper portion of Go muka asana.

Sit or stand and put fingers/hands on shoulders. Twist. Twist. Twist.

Standing pose. Arms up. Reach for the sky. Arch back just a little bit.

Stand and perfect the posture…

and so on…
:o

#5

A good way to warm up the upper back is having someone take the lower body of virabhadrasana 1, and inhaling the arms overhead from the front and exhaling back down several times. This creates an arch in the spine while simultaneously loosening the shoulders. I have seen for some people that keeping the head in the down position rather than looking up at the hands can increase the stretch in the shoulders and the upper back, without putting so much pressure on the lower back, so you could play around to see if she can do it with sthiram & sukham. Another variation of this virabhadrasana posture is to extend the arms out in front of oneself with the palms touching and pen them on outwards on the horizontal plane so that they stretch back to the sides at the level of the shoulders, thereby stretching the front face of the shoulder and opening the chest. If she can do this a few times with ease, see if she can do it while focusing on drawing her shoulder blades together, rather than just opening her arms outward.

On a side note - I used to have excruciating wrist pain until I saw a talented chiropractor who did one adjustment to me and it completely vanished. Occasionally I have some soreness in my wrists when my neck is very right (I still have some neck problems), and the fear of having that pain reoccur does sometimes prevent me from fully entering adhomukha svanasana, usualy when the alarm goes off that there is too much tension in those areas, (the body’s warning systems are a gift!). Maybe you could give her some advice to warm up extra before class by doing some arm rotations along with her breath, or simple movements that will bring some nice blood flow to that area before you begin.

Did she say where she is feeling strain in that particular posture or any others?

#6

Thanks Scales! With me having RTC surgery, I do a lot of shoulder openers , especially in the beginning, but throughout the practice. In addition to doing the ones you have mentioned I also do shoulder shrugs and scapula squeezes in class. I also do a very nice sequence: lay on back and roll a blanket to cradle your neck. Legs out and on mat. Lift head and point crown to right and release down. Turn head to left. Then Rolled blanket under upper shoulders, bent knees. Reach both arms overhead and down to floor. Relax and breath in the stretch. Then to mid back, this time one arm at a time. Finally big roll under tailbone arms overhead, breath and relax. It’s quite a good effective sequence and my students love it. While I don’t recall this student having difficulty with the shoulder openers I will pay particular attention this evening during class.

Thanks again for your input!

#7

[QUOTE=suryadaya;34878]A good way to warm up the upper back is having someone take the lower body of virabhadrasana 1, and inhaling the arms overhead from the front and exhaling back down several times. This creates an arch in the spine while simultaneously loosening the shoulders. I have seen for some people that keeping the head in the down position rather than looking up at the hands can increase the stretch in the shoulders and the upper back, without putting so much pressure on the lower back, so you could play around to see if she can do it with sthiram & sukham. Another variation of this virabhadrasana posture is to extend the arms out in front of oneself with the palms touching and pen them on outwards on the horizontal plane so that they stretch back to the sides at the level of the shoulders, thereby stretching the front face of the shoulder and opening the chest. If she can do this a few times with ease, see if she can do it while focusing on drawing her shoulder blades together, rather than just opening her arms outward.

On a side note - I used to have excruciating wrist pain until I saw a talented chiropractor who did one adjustment to me and it completely vanished. Occasionally I have some soreness in my wrists when my neck is very right (I still have some neck problems), and the fear of having that pain reoccur does sometimes prevent me from fully entering adhomukha svanasana, usualy when the alarm goes off that there is too much tension in those areas, (the body’s warning systems are a gift!). Maybe you could give her some advice to warm up extra before class by doing some arm rotations along with her breath, or simple movements that will bring some nice blood flow to that area before you begin.

Did she say where she is feeling strain in that particular posture or any others?[/QUOTE]

She complains of her shoulders hurting and her wrists tiring. Good suggestions with modifying Virbhadrasana. Will try it. I like to incorporate Garudasan arms while in the above pose. Suggesting extra shoulder warmups before class is a good idea.

Not aware she has seen a Chiropractor, but she has has Rolfing sessions at the studio where I teach.

Thanks!

#8

Her posture in Tadasana please and the profundity, or lack thereof in her backbend practice?

[quote=lotusgirl;34865]Greetings all!

Anyone have any suggestions on what to do when a student has a rounded mid and upper back? I know rounded low back can be calves /hamstrings and with upper back rounding it’s tight shoulders. I know appropriate modifications and adjustments. But this particular student has more rounding in mid and some in upper. She has never liked this position and I would like to make it more comfortable for her. She wears wrist supports for her carpal tunnel (which is not an issue currently) Could it be she is resistant to fully engage in the pose due to fear of re-injury to wrists?

Thoughts/suggestions?

Thanks![/quote]

#9

Her posture in tadasana seems fine. She does however seem reluctant in camel, cobra, etc. I’m leaving now for class and will pay close attention to her in those positions.
Thanks! I’ll let you know.

#10

Greetings!

My students Tadasana was good, with exception of a minor adjustment. (shifting tailbone down and abs up) Her Bhujangasana was quite beautiful. Nice deep backbend, with upward shifting of abs and firming, not tightening of glutes) I did notice her left scapula lagging behind the right during shoulder squeezes and the contraction minimal.

In her down dog, I made an adjustment getting behind her and pulling (hands on hip creases) hips up while I told her to lift sitting bones toward ceiling. This did help a bit. I then had her go into a short dog, using the previous adjustments, and she looked much better. Not quite a flat back, but better nonetheless. Her arms continued to feel uncomfortable and I went through inward rotation of forearms, external of upper, placement of fingers, shoulder blades down back. Still uncomfortable and arms still awkward.

?

#11

Very thorough, thank you.
I was mainly looking for feedback as to whether the rounding of the mid and upper thoracic spine was following her in Tadasana and her backbend practice. It seems the answer to both is “no”.

Take the student to the wall for Ardha Uttanasana and demonstrate the engagement of the serratus anterior to spread the shoulder blades. This will not only preserve shoulder integrity in poses where the arms bear weight but also give her the action to free the neck in AMS. Once she has tried like the dickens to find that action ask her to replicate it (immediately) in Adho Mukha AND have her lift the sternum into her nostrils. If this distorts the pose further, have her bend her knees and tip the pelvis toward the top of her thighbones.

#12

Thanks so much Gordon. I’ll work with her on it. I like the visual of lifting the sternum into her nostrils! LOL

#13

As long as that phrase speaks to her since it is not YOUR sternum that needs lifting :slight_smile:

gk

#14

[QUOTE=InnerAthlete;34986]As long as that phrase speaks to her since it is not YOUR sternum that needs lifting :slight_smile:

gk[/QUOTE]

Funny! If you knew my class they would die laughing!

I was thinking also about the Levator Scapulae. Her head also always looks uncomfortable, like she can’t relax it. If the LS is tight it may keep the scapula from moving down. Thoughts?