When someone comes to me complaining of neck and shoulder pain, they are usually rubbing their upper shoulder/neck area which are known as the trapezius muscle. This muscle, on the surface seem to be the number cause for neck and shoulder pain but in my experience they are getting a bad wrap, and it’s actually the chest muscles that are to blame.

There are two postures that I share with them that 9/10 times provides immediate and long lasting release. One posture is Wild Thing, and the other is a Neck and Shoulders Release which I consider to be Wild Thing at the wall. The question is why do these postures receive neck pain?

What most people don’t realize is how connected the neck and shoulders really are. At this point I am sure you have heard about Fascia and how it wraps all of our muscles creating a unified – 1 muscle body. Have you ever opened up an orange and seen all the fibers between the sugary orange nectar? This is like fascia in a fruit, our muscles are the same way. However, we don’t need to get “NEW AGEY” to see that the neck is completely connected to the shoulders. Let’s just take a quick peak at the anatomy, shall we?

Shoulders 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 for example is called the Sternocleidomastoid and it runs from the top of your chest to the back of your neck and skull. This muscle when tight will pull the head forward and down toward your chest. 

The Pectorals Major and Minor Muscles attach to the chest, the arm bone, the shoulder blade, and the collar bone and these are our focus for today along with the Trapezius muscle. The Trapezius not only attaches to the neck, spine, skull and shoulder blade but they also attach to the collar bone. 

THE BIG SECRET

Truth is there are multiple causes for neck and shoulder pain, but the common everyday “rub your upper shoulders and neck” kind of pain is typically caused by tight or short pectoral muscles causing the collar bones to be pulled downward and the shoulder blades to rise up and be pulled forward towards the checks. The Trapezius which is often blamed then gets in a tug of war and tries to pull the shoulders back into place. AND WHAT DO YOU DO? You start rubbing the trapezius – asking it to relax. The Problem with that is, it is trying to help – it’s the chest muscles that need to relax. Release the Pectoral muscles 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 the 3 primary shoulder actions through out a 75 minute class and then we learned how 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 have neck and shoulder pain on a regular basis, or if you simply want to prevent chronic discomfort than I suggest including at least 1 pectoral stretch in your daily yoga practice. What if you can’t get on your mat each day? That is no problem, you can stretch your Pectoralis muscles anywhere so long as you have a wall to put your hand on! 

Right now as you read this your arms are probably in front of you correct? They are for more of our day – this causes the shoulders to pull forward, the simple soloution is we just need to pull our shoulders back. In the video Below I will 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 than you know that flip dog is a popular posture that is called out somewhere toward the middle or end of the 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 in to it. So how do you do the pose?

RISK VS REWARD

If you have practiced with me than you know that I am not a “there is 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 one that presents high risk of injury. While I don’t think flip dog poses a massive immediate threat on the shoulder girdle I do think that the way people are approaching it presents a higher than necessary risk on the gleno-humeral joint (shoulder) with out any real reward that would outweigh the risk. This is an important distinction, within the physical practice of yoga or anything else for that matter there is a risk factor that is unavoidable but when we weigh the potential benefits we often still make the choice to proceed. We do this everytime we sit in a car or board an airplane – the risk is catastrophic but the potential gain is worth it to us that we take the risk. So what is the risk of flip dog and what is the potential gain?

The way most people execute the yoga pose we call “flip dog” is more or less like reverse table top but on one hand and that but hand is turned out. To me the extreme extension of the shoulder is fine when baring weight on both hands and fully activating the posterior shoulder muscles (the muscles around the shoulder blades. 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 the pressure in the anterior (front) part of the glenohumeral joint capsule. there are ligaments there that keep the arm bone snuggled into the shoulder socket – putting pressure on them starts to destabilize them and over time this could cause a knocking of the arm bone in the shoulder socket causing all sorts of soft tissue damage.

SOLUTION

First off, Don’t freak out, doing a flip dog here and there is not going to kill you, but there is an easy solution that still allows you to participate in this section of class, simply do Wild Thing Prep (shown as the starting position in the video below, and rise up to wild thing). Flipping over from down dog makes it easy to over load the joint as the weight of your body and gravity are falling downward. RISING UP you will be forced to use the muscles of your shoulders, hips, and back and you are less likely to have enough stretch to put yourself in a compromising position.

In the September Immersion we worked through the 3 primary shoulder actions through out a 75 minute class and then we learned how 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.  

We start in a prep position and line up the shoulder for maximum muscle recruitment and minimal joint risk, and then we try our best to maintain these actions as we rise up. You will see some further details in the video about how to line up your legs and how to shift your weigh out of your hand as well in order to utilize your hips and back which are much stronger than the shoulder.   

If you practice or have been to a modern vinyasa or power yoga class than you know that flip dog is a popular posture that is called out somewhere toward the middle or end of the 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 in to it. So how do you do the pose? 

RISK VS REWARD 

If you have practiced with me than you know that I am not a “there is 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 one that presents high risk of injury. While I don’t think flip dog poses a massive immediate threat on the shoulder girdle I do think that the way people are approaching it presents a higher than necessary risk on the gleno-humeral joint (shoulder) with out any real reward that would outweigh the risk. This is an important distinction, within the physical practice of yoga or anything else for that matter there is a risk factor that is unavoidable but when we weigh the potential benefits we often still make the choice to proceed. We do this everytime we sit in a car or board an airplane – the risk is catastrophic but the potential gain is worth it to us that we take the risk. So what is the risk of flip dog and what is the potential gain? 

The way most people execute the yoga pose we call “flip dog” is more or less like reverse table top but on one hand and that but hand is turned out. To me the extreme extension of the shoulder is fine when baring weight on both hands and fully activating the posterior shoulder muscles (the muscles around the shoulder blades. 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 the pressure in the anterior (front) part of the glenohumeral joint capsule. there are ligaments there that keep the arm bone snuggled into the shoulder socket – putting pressure on them starts to destabilize them and over time this could cause a knocking of the arm bone in the shoulder socket causing all sorts of soft tissue damage.