When someone comes to me complaining of neck and shoulder pain, they are usually rubbing their upper shoulder/neck area- their trapezius muscle. On the surface, this muscle seems to be the number one cause for neck and shoulder pain, but I believe trapezius gets a bad rap and it’s often tight chest muscles that are to blame.

There are two postures I share that almost always provide immediate and long-lasting release. One posture is Wild Thing, and the other is a Neck and Shoulders Release that I consider Wild Thing at the wall.

Why do these postures relieve neck pain?

Most people don’t realize how connected the neck and shoulders really are. At this point, I’m sure you’ve heard about fascia and how it weaves over, around, and into all the muscles in our bodies, creating a unified, one-muscle body.

Have you ever opened an orange and seen all the pith fibers around and between each segment? This is like fruit fascia, and our muscles are the same way. Our necks are connected to our shoulders and our shoulders to our chest. Let’s just take a quick peek at the anatomy, shall we?

Shoulder Anatomy: What You Need To Know

There are 3 bones that make up the shoulders 

1. Collar bone “Clavicle” 
2. Arm Bone “Humerus”
3. Shoulder Blade “Scapula”

There are multiple muscles that attach to one or more of these bones that also connect to your neck and/or head. One muscle is called the Sternocleidomastoid, running from the top of your chest to the back of your neck and skull. When tight, this muscle will pull the head forward and down toward your chest. 

The Pectorals Major and Minor muscles attach to the chest, arm bone, shoulder blade, and collar bone. Along with the Trapezius muscle, these will be our focus for today. The Trapezius not only attaches to the neck, spine, skull, and shoulder blade, it also attaches to the collar bone. 

THE BIG SECRET

The truth is there are multiple causes for neck and shoulder pain, but the common every day “rub your upper shoulders and neck” kind of pain is typically the result of tight, shortened pectoral muscles. When collar bones are pulled downward and shoulder blades are forced to rise up and forward, the Trapezius is often blamed. But Trapezius is trying to do its job and pull your shoulder blades back down, creating a tug of war.

So what do you do? You start rubbing your Trapezius, asking it to relax, when really what needs to chill are your chest muscles. Release the Pectorals and more often than not, your neck and shoulder pain will go away. 

SO CAN SHOULDER TENSION CAUSE NECK PAIN? Absolutely! When we look at all the different muscles that attach to both the neck and shoulders, it’s obvious.

In the September Immersion we worked through three primary shoulder actions in a 75-minute class and then we learned to apply them directly to Wild Thing. Each immersion practice focuses on a different yoga pose in order to develop a greater understanding of our body. Join the next livestream immersion and get lifetime access to all videos when you sign up today!

SOLUTION TO NECK AND SHOULDER PAIN

If you have neck and shoulder pain on a regular basis, or if you simply want to prevent chronic discomfort, then I suggest including at least one pectoral stretch in your daily yoga practice. What if you can’t get on your mat each day? No problem! Stretch your Pectoralis muscles anywhere you find a wall.

As you read this, your arms are likely in front of you. They are for much of our day, which causes shoulders to pull forward. The simple solution is to pull shoulders back. In the video below, I share with you the 3 Steps to Releasing your Neck and Shoulder Pain! 

If you practice or have been to a modern vinyasa or power yoga class, then you know flip dog is a popular pose called out toward the middle or end of yoga class as an option. I have yet to be in a class where the instructor explains what flip dog is or how to get into it.

So how do you do the pose? And is it worth it?

RISK VS REWARD

If you’ve practiced with me, you know I am not an “only one way to do a pose” kind of teacher, but more of a “one or two ways not to do the pose.” The way NOT to do a pose is in a way that presents a high risk of injury. While I don’t think flip dog poses a massive immediate threat on the shoulder girdle, I do think the way many people approach it presents a higher than necessary risk to the gleno-humeral joint (shoulder), without any real reward that would outweigh the risk. This is an important distinction. Within the physical practice of yoga, or anything else worth the effort in life, there is an unavoidable risk. But we weigh the potential benefits and make the choice to proceed. We do this every time we drive a car or board an airplane. When we sign a contract or a lease. When we chose to love someone. Hell, when we get out of bed in the morning.

The risk is there, but the potential for life-changing gain is worth it, so we take that risk.

Back to flip dog. What is the risk and the potential gain?

This pose (or the variation I show you) has the potential to be an incredible stretch for the Pectoralis muscles and a solid shoulder strengthener. For many, the kind of opening felt in this pose feels really good because we often spend much of our time hunched forward.

The way most people execute the pose we call “flip dog” is like a reverse tabletop, but on one hand and with that hand turned out. To me, the extreme extension of the shoulder is fine when bearing weight on both hands and fully activating the posterior shoulder muscles (around the shoulder blades). But take away one hand and enter the pose from down dog, and most people wind up punching the head of the humerus (arm bone) forward, putting pressure in the anterior (front) part of the glenohumeral joint capsule. Ligaments there keep the arm bone snuggled into the shoulder socket. Putting pressure on them starts to destabilize those ligaments. Over time, this could cause a knocking of the arm bone in the shoulder socket, resulting in all sorts of soft tissue damage.

Technique is like following an instructional guide that your body celebrates upon reading. The body, like all things in nature, has a certain timing that when followed will allow for your greatest physical expression. The goal for most people when it comes to the physical practice is typically strength or flexibility, but the problem is most people don’t know how to gain either and so they waste time, money, and energy following workout plans and training programs. Not to say that these are bad or that you shouldn’t use these to stay motivated, but be sure to harness your mind’s power on more than just getting in a workout, or achieving a certain number of repetitions, or attaining any particular pose. Instead, FOCUS on building BODY AWARENESS! This is why technique is so important – it gives you insight into the physical body that you are living in! Increasing body awareness will directly result in strength and flexibility. In Chromatic Yoga we define yoga as the practice of developing awareness of Mind, Body, or Soul, giving us access to our inner state of Pure Bliss. To practice asana (physical awareness) from that perspective means to take a deep journey of your body, and technique is a path that gets you there.

In my Online Live Class from March 14, 2020 I shared 3 primary techniques to give insight into your body and greater access to compass pose. Compass is an incredible expression of the human body and it requires an equally incredible awareness of your hips, pelvis, and shoulder blades. Let’s take a look at this video excerpt from the online class to give you the steps into this complicated posture, and then we will review it below.