Practice Yoga, Don't Overuse Your Shoulders, Turn Your Body Fully, And How Much Do You Know About Shoulder Flexibility?

Remembering that back when I was learning tennis, my coach would always say beside me, 'Don't use your shoulders, don't raise your arms, turn your whole body!' All sports people know that to generate power, relying solely on arm movements is not enough. Moreover, if a person generates or bears weight relying solely on their arms, the shoulders are very likely to be injured, ranging from muscle strains to dislocations.

This principle applies in everyday life as well. For example, when you go on a trip and drag a very heavy suitcase to the airport, or when you push a very heavy door, or when you lift your child, if you are not fully aware of your movement patterns, you are likely to strain your shoulders.

Therefore, we need to know some about the shoulders, so that we can consciously move in everyday life and future yoga practices instead of simply relying on body habits, which can avoid the risk of bodily injury and improve our quality of life and sports.

The shoulder is not an independent joint

The first thing we need to know is that the shoulder is not an isolated structure. The shoulder's entire structure is mainly composed of the shoulder blade and clavicle, forming a shoulder strap. The whole structure is designed to operate together. However, in yoga practice, it's not easy to see the movement of the shoulder blade; when the shoulder blade's movement is limited, the shoulder joint has less support. Therefore, regardless of the arm's movement, we need to pay attention to the situation of the shoulder blade - consciously raise the awareness of the shoulder blade movement and consciously strengthen the awareness of shoulder blade movement.

The shoulder blade's position is our hope for the initiating movement of arm movements - movement power originates from here - arms just follow the movement of the shoulder blade. So, whenever we, or help other students with shoulder problems, we always need to look at whether we have awareness of the shoulder blade and the shoulder blade movement, and how much awareness there is.

The flexible movement of the shoulder needs the movement of the shoulder blade to unlock

Shoulder problems may be elsewhere

The second thing we need to know and remember is that the front chest muscles and the back muscles of the back of the shoulder blade connect to the side of the arm bone

This means that when the chest muscles are very tight and stiff, they will pull the arm inwards; at the same time, when the back muscles are very tight and stiff, they will also pull the arm inwards. The arm bone's excessive inward rotation leads to the shoulder moving forward, which will cause many problems. Therefore, if you want to solve the problem of shrinking your shoulders, simply opening your chest and stretching your chest muscles may not be enough, you also need to relieve the tension of the back muscles. Some gym excises and yoga poses can achieve this purpose.

Virabhadrasana Warrior series

Salabhasana Locust Pose

Ardha Uttansana Standing Half Forward Bend

These postures may seem easy to describe, but the emphasis here is to cultivate awareness of activating the muscles under the shoulder blade - especially when performing arm movements to the side or extending arms, be aware of the stretching of the back muscles of the back of the shoulder blade. In yoga class, teachers can first encourage students to activate the muscles under the shoulder blade, and can lightly touch their fingers to the back muscles to encourage students to activate the muscles and start the arm movements. At the same time, many of us have shoulder muscle imbalance problems due to the habits of daily life, we need to use correct body awareness to help us restore balance in yoga and other sports. Only when these muscles are balanced, the movement of the shoulders can be flexible and efficient.

Don't forget the spine when moving the shoulders!

The third thing is that no matter what kind of body movement we do in yoga practice, we need the participation of the spine, the participation of the spine means linking the shoulder strap to the spine, so that the whole body structure can participate in this action. When the arm moves backward and downward, our rib cage should follow the pull flat, and when the arm extends upwards, the thoracic spine's curve should increase, and when the arm extends to the side, the spine should twist to a certain extent.

So, in essence, the principle is simple – any shoulder stretching – whether it's static or sitting on the floor shoulder stretching should not be a single shoulder movement. Because the movement of the shoulder joint is organically linked with other parts of the body, especially with the movement of the spine, the muscle network is quite complex, the shoulder strap is connected to the spine, connected to the rib cage, so a shoulder movement will affect the entire upper body. If we don't have this awareness, the use of the shoulder may be isolated, which will increase the risk of injury.

So, before doing many shoulder presses, or arm presses with a weight in the gym, it's best to understand the above points and consciously cultivate related body awareness. This can ensure that the shoulders won't be injured due to unreasonable pressure.