I few weeks ago I developed a pain in my right shoulder. Actually I think it is a tendon -it feels like a range of motion injury. I’m not sure if it happened during yoga, lifting weights (kettlebells) or wrangling my kids. Anywho - I pay close attention during class and it never really hurts - maybe a twinge here or there. It hurts after class. I think because of the heat -because I went in hurting this morning and after laying there for 10 mins it was fine.
It twinges the most on Tibetan table - my instructor looked today and she said my right shoulder was several inches lower than my left during that posture. Not sure if I should skip it or what.
DeeD,
Boy do I feel your pain! As someone who had Rotator Cuff surgery last year after nursing it for a year, go see your Doctor. RTC is but one of many possibilities.
Does your practice include Chatturanga (push up)? I ask this because as a teacher this is where I see the greatest opportunity for injury. And if your injured shoulder is lower than your other, you may be compensating due to the pain.
What type of practice do you do? Have your teacher assess your ROM in the shoulder area. Internal and external rotation. Also watch yourself in the mirror when you bring your arms up over head in Tadasana before going into uttanasana, looking at your shoulder movement.
Hope this helps. Good luck and hope the shoulder issue is nothing serious.
Thanks! We do a few push-ups in one class per week.
The main class I go to doesn’t do pushups. However before I started yoga I was a student at a boxing gym and we did TONS of pushups. TONS! This is recent -after I started yoga, and after I quit boxing.
I do mainly a Bikram derivative 2-3 times per week and another strength building core/class with a few pushups.
I’ll keep an eye on my shoulders -my instructor hasn’t tested my range of motion but she did tell me to make sure the left shoulder (the pain free one) shouldn’t extend past the progress of the “limited” shoulder -if that makes sense.
When studying with a teacher of one’s choosing it is best to first turn to that relationship to look for guidance. After all, that’s why you’re there. There are two main reasons for this. The first is that that person can see your practice and see it in its entirety. The second is that it is part of cultivating an appropriate teacher-student relationship. If the student is not receiving guidance they feel is appropriate (well above “gut it out” “power through it” or the like) then that is one (of many) indicators which directs us as students to a more appropriate practice (or to practice more appropriately).
My concern with physical practices in environments with high temperature external heat sources is the false sense of mobility that allows. It feels free and loose because it is free and loose. Popular culture would have one believe “yoga” (in this case asana) is only about flexibility, mobility, suppleness. And this is simply as inaccurate as it could possibly be - not to mention a dangerous paradigm to ascribe to.
For an optimally safe practice, student’s need to learn how to keep the humerus in joint. This is a relevant action for most poses where the arms are weight-bearing; adho mukha svanasana, phalakasana (adho mukha dandasana), chaturanga dandasana, vasisthasana, sirsasana, pincha mayurasana, adho mukha vrksasana, bakasana et al.
I appreciate the perspective as always and I had worried that the heated room would make me feel like I had more range of motion than I actually had.
As I mentioned the guidance I received was to limit the range of motion of my good shoulder until my bad shoulder caught up.
I admire the practice you talk about with the student and teacher and finding the right fit but it is hard enough for me to find a studio that has classes I can go to. I’m either at the 6am class or the 8pm class -very few studios offer this schedule. At this time I am doing primarily a physical practice of asanas.
I’m letting the idea of keeping the humerus joint in place permeate my mind and it sort of makes sense -but only sort of -any tips on how to think about and go about doing that? I’m just beginning so I’m not doing half of that list you posted - just some side plank (which I’ve been doing in boxing/pilates for a while) and a dolphin plank. The pose I find most challenging in this regard is tibetan table- I realize these are probably bastardizations of true yoga asanas.
Sure, I’ll PM you. I don’t like posting that kind of stuff in perpetuity on the internet.