It’s Not What You Do But How Yoga Do It
YOGA
Part One: Upper Body
Tarra J. Madore
DC, E-RYT 500
Since being featured in The American Chiropractor, I’ve been asked by many DC s about specific yoga poses for specific conditions. Some yoga poses may be better than others for certain conditions, and when working with a qualified yoga therapist, those poses can safely be explored. Overall, the yoga experience should be more healing than harming. It isn’t necessarily what positions the student does, but how the student does them.
The style of yoga I teach and train teachers in focuses on how to pose correctly so anybody who comes to class can feel safe with NMS issues. For example, if a person comes to a general-population class while experiencing rotator cuff issues, we will be able to go through class with specific cues and minor variations to help that person without much disruption to the class. Our cues will focus on external rotation of the shoulder in all poses. This will strengthen the muscles of the rotator cuff and protect the tendons from being impinged or overstretched. Unfortunately, not all yoga classes focus on good alignment, which is why it is important to find well-trained instructors.
Try this: Bring your arms straight out in front of you. Lift your arms up overhead and then lower them back to shoulder height. Do this a few times. Now, bring your arms out in front of you about shoulder width apart with your little fingers turned in slightly. Next, imagine you have a beach ball between your hands and give it a squeeze. While “squeezing” the beach ball, lift your arms overhead and then lower them while keeping up the squeezing action. There is a big difference in mindless movement and mindful movement. In yoga, we do each move mindfully and with attention to detail.
Furthermore, in a standing pose where the arm is overhead, such as Parsvakonasana (extended side-angle pose), we pay attention to how the arm gets into place. This pose is a wide-legged stance facing the long edge of the yoga mat. The front foot faces the front short edge of the mat and the knee is bent to 90 degrees; the back foot turns in slightly and the leg is straight and strong. The bottom arm’s fingers are touching down on the floor or block behind the front ankle (modified position: the forearm on the thigh). The top arm is overhead with the upper arm next to the cheek. There is a lot going on in this pose, and the lower body is certainly the main focus because that is the weight-bearing part. However, the arms should not be overlooked. It can be quite painful for those with shoulder issues. To get the top arm in good position, we instruct that the arm come straight out (toward the long edge of the mat). The shoulder moves back—plug it in and turn the little finger down slightly—and then slide the arm overhead (not up) so that the upper arm is next to the cheek. Similar to the action with the imaginary beach ball, the body is just on a diagonal. If the person experiences pain with this movement, the arm can stay straight out. The person moves the arm as far as possible without pain. As the shoulder heals and strengthens, progression will take place.
“As the shoulder heals and strengthens, progression will take place.
In a pose like Adho Mukha Svanasana (downwardfacing dog pose), keep the hands shoulder width apart with the index fingers facing straight ahead or slightly turned out. If someone had a major tear in the labrum or one of the rotator cuff tendons, we would recommend private instruction. The plan would be to go from nonweight-bearing exercises or poses and move to more weight bearing as healing occurs. If there is a small tear or nonsurgical situation, a regular class will be fine with some modifications. If there is no pain with weight bearing, downward-facing dog done this way will be healing and strengthening. The instructions are to engage the muscles from the hands up the arms into the upper back, drawing the shoulders blades toward the spine. Sometimes people cannot figure out how to make that happen, so we say, “Do the action of dragging your hands toward each other or hugging your forearms inward.” This allows students to feel the engagement.
When people are tight or injured, it always seems as if they do all the wrong things—what they think is helping usually is not helping at all. That’s why an intelligent and skilled teacher is important. In Adho Mukha Svanasana, most people lift their elbows out and up, which will put pressure on the wrists and shoulders without strengthening at all. The fingers turning out slightly will be a huge help with tight shoulders. That tightness could be from an injury that has prevented full range of motion and is leading toward a frozen shoulder. We teach to rotate the upper arm from inner biceps to outer biceps to triceps in all poses. This will help prevent impingement of the tendons, nerves, and the bursa. To back this off for people who are not yet ready for weight bearing, we can instruct downward-facing dog with the hands on the wall. All the good alignment cues will help prepare these people for weight bearing when they are pain-free.
The key is finding yoga classes that work with chiropractic care, which is why I train yoga teachers. I want teachers to be knowledgeable and effective when working with students who have injuries. Yoga can safely help people heal. When working with an intelligent teacher, the poses don’t matter as much as how the poses are completed.
References
1. Calais-Germain, Blandine (EnglishEdition 1993, 2007) Anatomy of Movement. Eastland Press, Inc., Seattle, Washington.
2. Iyengar, B.K.S. (1966; revised ed. 1977). Light on Yoga. New York: Schocken.
3. Jarmey, Chris (2003, second edition 2008). The Concise Book of Muscles. Lotus Publishing and North Atlantic Books, Berkeley, California.
4. Photo Credit: Rick Brightly
Dr Tarra J. Madore, DC, E-RYT 500, is on a unique mission to inform and educate people about yoga f2' and how it can complement chiropractic care. She simultaneously practiced yoga while also attending Palmer College of Chiropractic in Davenport, Iowa. , She practiced chiropractic for 10 years before “retiring ” due to a repetitive stress injury to her wrist. She turned her injury into opportunity by uniting her two vocations in 2004 when she opened her yoga studio, Smart Asana Yoga, in her hometown of North Brunswick, New Jersey. Recently, Tarra opened another studio in the Princeton, New Jersey area. She now trains yoga instructors at the 200and500-hour levels, and she is certifying instructors in Smart Asana Yoga (SAY). She also has created a Basic Yoga Therapy Certification for those instr uctors who want to know more about the human body, how it works, how to prevent injury, and how to heal. She can be reached at 732-951-1100 or by visiting www. smartasanayoga. com.
