Elbow Pain?
Do your elbows joints ache after yoga? You might have hyper extended joints with weak stability muscles - without even knowing about it. ..Or you might just need to check the positioning of your hands and shoulders!
How you place your hands matters When you’re putting any body weight onto your hands - for yoga, handstands, or other type of movement, you need to be intentional about it. Your hands aren’t usually accustomed to holding your body weight. Just check the size of your wrist versus your ankle - that itself says a lot. If you’re putting all your weight into the base of your hand, or just the base and the fingers, it’s going to feel unstable and uncomfortable. The pads of your knuckles need to be on the ground as well or your foundation suffers. Your elbows are going to be overworked trying to compensate and you’re potentially compressing nerves in your wrists and down your forearm. And speaking of the forearm, did you know you don’t actually have muscles in your fingers? You have muscles in your palms and in your forearms that control the fingers. So when you’re overworking those palm muscles, the forearm is actually inactive, putting more pressure on the elbow joint. Ouch. Both the muscles in your lower arm and the muscles in your upper arm work to stabilize your elbow. So…
What you’re doing with your shoulders affects your elbow joint
When you get into a plank position, or any other position where your weight is bearing down on your hands, make sure your shoulders are activated.
If your shoulders are dipping down or collapsing, you’re also collapsing in the elbow joints, which leads to hyperextension.
The first and easiest way to fix this is to put a micro-bend in your elbows. This ensures you’re activating the muscles around the joint and taking the pressure off the joint itself.
If you press up and activate through your shoulders, you’ll find that it’s actually pretty hard to let the weight rest in your elbows or hyperextend them.
Also, doing lots of chaturangas can make your elbows hurt sometimes. If that’s you, you might want to try doing fewer or less intense versions when your elbows are bothering you.
Strong fingers, hands, forearms, upper arms, and shoulders = happy elbows!
If you’ve got pain in your elbows when you get into any pose that puts weight onto your hands, you’re going to be limited in your movement, especially if you’re trying to move towards incorporating handstands in your practice. The good news is that you CAN strengthen the muscles around the joint for more support! It is recommended you try micro-bending first. It’s the easiest, quickest solution and sometimes (though not always), it’s all you need. Making a slight bend in the elbow forces your body to use the muscles around the elbow joint rather than relying on the joint itself. This can take some of the pressure (and pain!) off the joint. Something to think about if this is a persistent problem for you is to invest in a rubber exercise band.
These are a few exercises you can do with a band to help strengthen the muscles around your elbow joint.
Elbow extension exercises
Bicep curl with overhead press
Wrist extensors
Incline rows
To sum it up, if your elbows are bothering you, either micro-bend them through your practice or add some strengthening exercises on the side.
Elbow extension exercise
Bicep curl with overhead press
Wrist extensors
Incline Rows
While I can offer information and support, if pain persists, it is crucial to seek advice from a qualified health practitioner for personalized and accurate guidance.
*Disclaimer: We offer guidance and support through yoga practice. We are not medical doctors and we always ask you seek approval from your doctors if you have any doubts with your conditions.
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