The Hot Yoga Doctor – Free Bikram and Hot Yoga Resources › Hot Yoga Doctor Forum › Injuries, Restrictions, Ailments, Pose Modifications › Injuries › Shoulder injury still
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Way back in May I injured my left shoulder. I’m not going to go into details here as I did this in a previous post which was never answered. I will post the link, however. I ended up going to see my doctor who thought I had a rotator cuff tear, but an MRI revealed tendinitis in som unpronounceable part of my shoulder. I’ve been doing physical therapy for the last four weeks or so. The physical therapist told me I can’t raise my arm above my shoulder and even with the PT I’ll probably never be able do that ever again. He also says I can’t reach behind me, so unless there’s some way to adapt them, I’ll never be able to do Standing Bow or Floor Bow.
I’m ok with skipping those poses, but since nearly every pose starts with the arms going over the head, I’m wondering if there’s some way to adapt those to my arms no higher than shoulder height. If I can’t, it seems I’m banned from hot yoga forever. I really would like to know if I need to cancel my membership to my class or not. It would be a pity if I did because it has helped so much with my knee injury and my back really misses it as well.
I would like to thank anyone for any reply.
Beverly
https://www.hotyogadoctor.com/index.php/site/forum/viewthread/1544/
Ooops – sorry Beverly that your post in August slipped us by. We’ve had a family bereavement (with an illness leading up that we first heard about on August 22) where I lost my father just recently which has meant that I’m in the UK and Gabrielle has her hands full in Australia.
Nonetheless, we will get to this asap for you.
The “can’t” part of the PTs advice seems odd – but for sure there will be modifications we will be able to suggest, as well as asking a few questions about “how” you are raising your arms as this can make a huge difference to the stress on the shoulder joint.
I’ll let Gabrielle address that since she is the technical genius for shoulders!
Once again, I apologize that your initial post was not responded too 😉
I’m sorry for your loss. My father passed away 7 years ago and I miss him greatly.
As far as how I raise my arms, I’m attempting to keep my “elbows in my back pocket” with my palms facing forward. How well I’m succeeding is a whole different issue and can’t answer that question.
Thanks Beverly – yes I’m sure I’ll be the same in respect to missing my Dad 🙁
Thanks for the info about how you are moving your arms – that certainly shows you are starting from the right place and not unwittingly doing anything that might exacerbate the issue.
I’ll make sure to point Gabrielle here as soon as we next speak!
Hi Beverly
Thanks for being patient. OK, for ease I am putting what you wrote in here so that we don’t have to go back and forth:
I hurt my left shoulder a couple of months ago attempting to do floor bow. Before I tell you about that particular injury, let me tell you the entire history of that arm.
The day before my 13th birthday I broke my left arm just below the shoulder. It wasn’t a complete fracture, so they immobilized my arm by tying it to my body with an ace bandage and stuck it in a sling. About a month later we moved about 2000 miles from Tennessee back home to California. As a result (an perhaps because it was the 70s) I never got proper physical therapy on that arm.
I also have tendonitis in my left wrist which I got from hefting 9 & 10 lb newborns.
Fast forward 30+ years to January. I somehow injured my left knee so badly I could barely walk. While I was waiting to see the orthopedic surgeon, I went to see a chiropractor who specializes in extremities to help manage the pain. As well as adjusting my knee, he recommended going to hot yoga to rehab the knee. I started doing hot Hatha in February, and I’ve been doing it about 3x per week since then. However, I did not do floor bow because of my shoulder.
One day, I decided to give it a go and it hurt really badly, so I decided I shouldn’t be doing the pose. Then a couple of months ago I went to class and I was feeling particularly strong, so I decided to try again. I pulled my triceps so badly, that I spend the rest of class crying and trying not to scream out in pain. By the end of class the pain went from my neck down to my wrist. Immediately I went to see the chiropractor and he’s been working on it ever since. He says I can come every three weeks, but I come a lot more often than that. He showed me how to adapt some of the poses so they’re not so painful. The last few weeks I’ve been doing the poses normally.
This week, however it seems to have gotten worse. I can hardly get through half moon before that arm starts hurting. Even having my arm at parallel while doing the warrior poses is excruciating. Today having my arm in front of me during unsteady hurt and I had to put them down between parts of that pose. I’ve ended up laying on my mat for most of the class because of the pain.
So, I’m wondering what to do that will not strain that arm and rehab it during hot yoga. If I’m not in class at least twice a week, my knee starts hurting.
And now, I think I feel some questions coming on! 😉
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂Hi Beverly
Let me ask you some questions please!
>> If you have access to the name of that unpronounceable part of your shoulder then it would be great to know what the specialists are saying about the location. In other words can you please access the diagnosis for our use?
>> Can you please indicate if the tendonitis/ the pain/ the limitation of movement is exactly related to the place where you broke your arm all those years ago? Or is it in the vicinity of it/close by?
>> Have you ever seen my first (yes, it’s quite old) video called “A Transformational Technique For Your Practice, For Your Life”? It’s RIGHT HERE. Scroll to the bottom of the page of these free technique videos.
>> What exactly has the chiropractor told you to do for the different movements (that you have had to change in order to continue doing yoga)? Be as specific as you can for each pose that you have a modification for.
>> When you say you have excruciating pain in half moon and even when your arm is parallel to the floor in warrior, where exactly is your arm hurting?
That should get the ball rolling!
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂Dear Gabrielle,
Thank you for your reply. I’m sorry it took me so long to get back to you. I hadn’t seen this reply.
>> If you have access to the name of that unpronounceable part of your shoulder then it would be great to know what the specialists are saying about the location. In other words can you please access the diagnosis for our use?
EB: I was finally able to access my doctor’s website and get my dx. It is tendinitis of the supraspinatus.
>> Can you please indicate if the tendonitis/ the pain/ the limitation of movement is exactly related to the place where you broke your arm all those years ago? Or is it in the vicinity of it/close by?
EB: I broke my humerous just below the ball of the shoulder, so I would think it is quite close by. This tendonitis is in the rotator cuff area.
>> Have you ever seen my first (yes, it’s quite old) video called “A Transformational Technique For Your Practice, For Your Life”? It’s RIGHT HERE. Scroll to the bottom of the page of these free technique videos.
EB: I didn’t know about it. I will soon. Thanks.
>> What exactly has the chiropractor told you to do for the different movements (that you have had to change in order to continue doing yoga)? Be as specific as you can for each pose that you have a modification for.
EB: Really the only pose we modified was half moon. There instead of having my arms straight above my head, he had me put my arms around my head. In other words, my elbows were bent and my fingers were touching opposite ears. I dropped standing bow and floor bow.
>> When you say you have excruciating pain in half moon and even when your arm is parallel to the floor in warrior, where exactly is your arm hurting?
EB: Kind of near where the break was. Also the muscles around my scapula. I understand this to be referred pain.
Hopefully, this helps. I have finally contacted my instructor, so I’ll get her imput as well. Although the last time I spoke with her she wished me good luck.
Namaste, (I hope that’s spelled correctly)
Beverly Spring (Eagerbeaver)
I have to say I have seen the elbows in the back pockets video before. It was nice to refresh my memory in watching it again. I did try to start implementing this technique but I can’t remember if it was before or after my injury back in May. How well I’ve succeeded is anybody’s guess. The only person who practices hot yoga who I know has seen any of your stuff is my chiropractor. He is the one who initially got me started doing it & who pointed me to your website. We have occasionally attended the same class but he now has a studio in his home, so he rarely comes any more. Therefore I have no one to tell if I’ve been doing it correctly or not. I didn’t understand what I was trying to do until I did it in savasana. While laying supine, I could feel the rotation of my shoulders which I didn’t feel in any other position. I think after that discovery I’ve been able to do it properly in all positions.
Hi Beverly
How’s that shoulder? Are you willing to take up the ball again with me to try and get you sorted out? September and October forum posts went into a black hole. Let me know where you’re at.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂Dear Gabrielle,
The answer is yes, I’m quite excited to work with you. Between a nasty cold, female problems, and prepping for a colonoscopy things have been on hold for the last several weeks. I’m hoping to get back into things Monday.
Btw, I’ve been reading your e-mails about the frequency of doing yoga. Currently I’m going three days per week. Our studio has early morning classes those days which fits into my schedule much better. However, I’m busy two days per week (including Sunday) so I could make it in four or five days. I could get in six days if I did it at home, but I don’t have a hot room. How important is that heat?
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