4 Common Postural Patterns That Cause Yoga Injuries

Recent research suggests that yoga injuries are on the rise, but even the most devoted students among us practice for a mere fraction of the day. What we do the rest of the time—our posture and movement habits—has a far greater impact on our joints, muscles and fascia than our yoga practice.

So, while yoga might get the blame, sometimes a yoga pose is simply the straw that breaks the camel’s back, highlighting long-standing biomechanical imbalances created in our lives off the yoga mat.

Here are four common postural patterns to look out for, the poses or practices where they might set us up for increased injury risk, and some tips on how to re-create balance in the affected area.

Postural Pattern No. 1: Upper Cross Syndrome & Biceps Tendonitis

Ever felt a nagging ache at the front of the head of your shoulder after a few too many sun salutations? This could be related to a common postural habit known as upper cross syndrome.

The Anatomy:

Many of our daily activities, including driving and typing, involve our arms working in front of our body. This pattern tends to shorten and tighten our anterior shoulder and chest muscles (including pectoralis major and minor plus anterior deltoid) while weakening our posterior shoulder and mid back muscles (including the rhomboids, middle trapezius and infraspinatus). This imbalance pulls the head of the humerus forward in its socket.

When we take this altered position into weight-bearing poses, especially when our elbows are bent and gravity adds to the forward pull on the shoulders, we tend to lay on the biceps tendon (the tendon of the long head of biceps brachii) over the front of our shoulder joint. With repetition, the extra load on the tendon could create irritation and inflammation, leading to a niggling pain on the front of our shoulder.

Due to its repetition in yoga classes, Four-Limbed Staff Pose (Chaturanga Dandasana) is the most obvious pose to be aware of. Bent elbow arm balances can also be an issue, including Crow Pose (Bakasana), Eight-Angle Pose (Astravakrasana) and Grasshopper or Dragonfly Pose (Maksikanagasana). Even Side Plank (Vasisthasana) can irritate the biceps tendon if we allow the head of our weight-bearing shoulder to displace forward toward our chest.

How to reduce shoulder injury risk:

Humble Warrior Arms in Warrior 1 Pose

• Soften chronic tension in your chest and anterior shoulders by incorporating both active and passive stretches for these muscles, such as humble warrior arms, reverse prayer position, or lying supine with arms out in a T-shape or cactus position (perhaps even with a rolled blanket or mat under your spine to create extra lift for your chest).

Reverse Prayer Position in Horse Pose