Tennis Elbow in my right hand (dominant hand) – Vijay

Hi Vijay

It seems nobody has answered your questions in the longest time! So I shall chime in now.

Would you please let me know if there have been any changes to your condition and pain experience? If you’ve managed to improve matters I would love to know what you did.

In cases such as yours I have found that an outstretched arm with palm forward and energized hand (elbow point back), shoulder down and pressing the hand against an architrave (door jamb) can help. You put pressure against the jamb (or even a wall corner) and turn your body away from your arm for about 20 seconds at a time. Take a rest and do it again.

Have you tried such an exercise? It’s surprisingly effective.

I think restarting your Bikram practice is actually a good idea. What you must, must be careful of are your shoulders. Keep them down and back especially when your arms are up over your head. And especially when you are trying to straighten your arms. If your shoulders rise up AT ALL, be aware of it, drop them back down again and the try extending the arms again. If your arms have to be slightly bent in order to keep the shoulders down, so be it. Straightening them against lifted shoulders will cause problems.

You need to lengthen the arms in as much as you are able to keep the shoulders, head and neck muscles relaxed and working appropriately. You may find that because your arms may be hurting (elbows) that you could compensate for that, by trying to avoid pain and engaging shoulders without need (and with detrimental effect).

When your arms are underneath you for Locust Pose, they will likely hurt. Instead of trying to get “your pinky fingers to touch”, don’t be concerned about that command. It does not apply to all people. If your elbows are hurting too much then move your arms out symmetrically to a point where they can lengthen underneath you. It could be next to your hips, under your hips, or closer to the midline. It doesn’t matter.

If you think about it, the Locust Pose is similar in its action to the door/wall exercise described above. The one against the door is easier to do for longer and you can do it anywhere and anytime. 😉

I would love to know how you go and what works and what doesn’t so we can move forward!

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Vijay

Ooooops. Missed that question about the raised shoulders.

It’s a very complex anatomical issue. Raising shoulders amongst many things engages accessory respiratory muscles located in the neck and upper ribs. In effect they engage your sympathetic system (fear, flight, fright) and can prevent you from breathing deeply into your lungs. Accessory breathing muscles work in place of and in conjunction of the primary breathing muscles and thereby prevent full and deep breathing. It can markedly confine breathing to the top of your lungs and engage neck muscles to breathe! That is quite independent of position. You could be curled up or stretched up or in a back bend. In each case, raising the shoulders will make breathing less effective.

There are actual physical connections that are related to the way the ribs, diaphragm and core muscles work to create a deep and relaxed breath. It’s very intricate and wonderful. You can see that it has a lot to do with the functionality of the whole body (effective breathing and movement and posture).

The tightness around head, neck and shoulders creates tension (naturally :P) rather than length. While many believe they are getting more length in their arms by being able to reach up further, that is completely artificial.

The length you are after is from your shoulders and shoulder blades, extending up through to the finger tips. The more you can drop the shoulders while simultaneously reaching up, the longer your arms and the longer your neck. The moment your chin drops, or there is tension in your neck and shoulders you have an issue (easily fixed!).

Use the position of your head and chin, the sensation of tightness as your barometer. Loosen your shoulders and reach up. If your chin drops or you sense tightness, bend the arms a tiny bit, re-extend. If your arms are not completely straight but your chin is up then you are still able to reach up and stretch while still being able to breathe effectively, physiologically and fully.

In this way your arms will straighten in a very short amount of time.

If one continues to squeeze the head with the arms and the chin drops and there is tightness the muscular tension will NOT disappear and breathing will always be hampered to some degree.

I hope that was what you were after!

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂