FLIP DOG DILEMMA

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.