I wanted to do a quick video replying to a question that appeared on the EFI Facebook fan page.
Let me read the question. It responded to a blog post I put up yesterday called Stop Workplace Shoulder Pain with this Natural Solution.
It was a blog post that Kris Fondran wrote for EFI or ExercisesForInjuries.com where she went through 3 Yoga poses that she gives to her clients to help with shoulder pain, especially shoulder pain that people get in the workplace.
I posted that on my Facebook fan page, and Njama Jones, I hope I pronounced that correctly, responded, “the moves are good ones, but what about those people who can’t get their arms into those positions?“
And that’s an excellent point!
I will have a link to my fan page below in the description area of this video. Also, I will have a link to my fan page so you can add it to the discussion.
Pose #1 that Kris went through, I think most people can do. Pose #2 and #3 might be challenging for people. The alternatives that I would suggest are going into a standing position, relaxing through the shoulders, and focusing on dropping the shoulders, not rolling them forward but letting them drop down, relaxing through the upper trapezius or the neck, decreasing the tension in there.
Palms are up with the arms to the side and then bending the elbows. And then what I would end up focusing on is bringing the shoulder blades together and then relaxing. Again, bringing the shoulder blades together and relaxing.
I am dropping those shoulders, palms are up, elbows are bent at 90 degrees, and I am bringing those shoulder blades together and back. Then I am not reaching out with my hands. The movement ends up coming from between my shoulder blades and mid-back. And I would do a nice good contraction. Do as hard as you can with a solid contraction. Start with five repetitions, see how that ends up feeling, and then you can move to 10 repetitions.
There could be two alternatives to the third pose that I would get people to do.
First, I would get them to stand, arms to the side, and then work on bringing the arms as far back as you can with a focus on bringing the arms but then bringing the shoulder blades back and relaxing in those neck muscles.
I am not dropping my head back. And I am not rolling my shoulders forward. Then I am not bending forward to get more movement.
I am nice and upright. Relaxing through the neck, letting those shoulders drop. Bringing those hands back and then bringing the shoulder blades back. And then back to the start, bringing it back and back to the start. Like the other one, I would do five repetitions to 10 times.
For some people, if they have shoulder pain, they need to start from the side and bring their hands back. But what ends up working well, you can progress and see how it is for you, is I will use some “stick” or some “dowel.”
I can have my hands both shoulder-width apart. The dowel is resting on my body, and then I am lifting that dowel away from my body as far back as I can. And remember to bring those shoulder blades together, having those muscles work between the shoulder blades and around the shoulder blades while staying relaxed in the neck and still having a really good posture.
Go to the blog and do pose #1 that Kris talked about. If you can’t do pose #2 or #3, try the two I end up going through. Give those a go and see how they make your shoulder feel. We are looking at it feeling better and like the muscles have worked.
Take care and bye bye.
Rick Kaselj, M.S.
