Yoga Cues for The Shoulder - Clarify the Movements

Trish Corley Author

The anatomy you need to understand for accurate yoga cues for the shoulders.

.

Should we let the shoulders rise when the arm goes over head? Or should we press them down? There is a lot of confusion regarding yoga cues for the shoulder. 

.

Have you, like many yoga teachers, experienced confusion regarding shoulder alignment cues?

One of the most debated cues is that of shoulder placement when the arms go overhead:

.

 Do you pull the shoulders away from the ears?

OR

Do you bring the shoulders up towards the ears?
.

It's time to address this confusion. And that will require an understanding of the difference between rotation of the scapula and elevation and depression of the scapula.

.

Let’s explore some anatomy.

.

The shoulder blades, also known as the scapulae, are key players in our shoulder movements, especially when we're reaching our hands up towards the sky. And a key part of that movement is the rotation!

.

Rotation of the Shoulder Blades (aka Scapular Rotation):

The shoulder blades have various movements available. For now, let's focus on how they rotate. 

Similar to a clock hand, rotation of the shoulder blade happens in 2 directions. While a clock hand can rotate clockwise and counterclockwise, the scapulae rotate upwards and downwards. 

When a clock hand moves in a “counter clockwise" direction, the hand moves upwards from 6:00 towards 12:00.

.

When a clock hand moves in "clockwise" direction, the hand moves downwards from 12:00 towards 6:00. 

.
The shoulder blades move similarly to the clock hand. The direction of the rotation of the shoulder blade is named in reference to which direction the bottom tip of the shoulder blade is moving (where the stars are on the images below). 

.

Let's take a closer look a the two directions of rotation:

Upward Rotation of Shoulder Blade:

In upward rotation of the shoulder blade, the bottom tip of the shoulder blade rotates upwards. This is the action that automatically occurs when you raise your arm out to the side and over your head. Notice that the shoulder blade is only rotating - not going up or down. 

.

.

So why are we talking about shoulders up or down? It seems people confuse the shoulders going up and down with the shoulder blades rotating upwards and downwards.

In reality, the shoulder should stay in a neutral position when the arm goes up over head. There's no need to cue to lift the shoulders up or to press them down -- unless of course they are not already in a neutral position - or for some reason you want the shoulders to lift up or press down. 

.

Downward Rotation of the Shoulder Blade:

When we talk about downward rotation of the shoulder blade, the bottom tip of the shoulder blade rotates downwards. This automatically occurs when you lower your arm down by your side after it is over your head.

.

.

It needs to be noted that downward rotation of the shoulder blade is not the same as depressing the shoulder blades! They are different motion!

.

So let's review. Where it seems many yoga teachers get lost is in understanding that just because the shoulder blade is "upwardly rotating", it does not mean the shoulder or the shoulder blade has to go up or elevate. 

Consider the hand of a clock as it rotates. Look at the images above. The tip of the clock hand rotates to the different numbers on the face of the clock, but the base of the hand always remains in the same position in the center of the clock. 

Shoulder blade rotation is similar. The tip of the shoulder blade moves up and down, but the base of the shoulder blade remains steady against the rib cage when it works optimally. 

.

If the shoulder blade is going up or down too much, it is not centered. This is ultimately what disrupts the smooth rhythm of the shoulder needed for optimal biomechanics. 

.

You can’t easily control the rotation of the shoulder blade, but I promise that if you can lift your arm out to the side and over your head, your shoulder blade is rotating. That’s just how the biomechanics of the shoulder work.

.

.

Now that we have looked at rotation of the shoulder blade, let’s let’s take a look at elevation and depression of the shoulder blade. 

Shoulder Blade Elevation refers to the shoulder blade moving directly upwards along the rib cage. 

Shoulder Blade Depression refers to the shoulder blade moving directly downwards along the rib cage. 

.

.

Elevation of the shoulder blade does occur when the shoulders moves up towards our ears as in the photo below.

.

.

Elevation of the shoulder blades occurs when you shrug your shoulders, or "lift your shoulders up to your ears". It can also occur when the arm lifts over the head, and in fact it often does. But that doesn’t mean it’s what is best from a biomechanical perspective.

.

In fact, repeated shoulder blade elevation with overhead movement could lead to more and more problems with the biomechanics of the shoulder and to eventual overuse injuries.

.

Shoulder blade depression what occurs when the shoulders moves down away from our ears.

.

.

Shoulder blade depression is what happens when students are told to “pull your shoulders away from your ears.” If students are told to keep pulling the shoulders down the back while practicing postures with arms over head (think Warrior 1 and Downward facing dog), then shoulder blade depression may be occurring with arms over head:

.

This is also not what best from a biomechanical perspective. In fact, repeated shoulder blade depression with overhead movement could lead to more and more problems with the biomechanics of the shoulder and to eventual overuse injuries.

.

So here’s my point. 

Shoulder blade elevation is different than shoulder blade upward rotation. And shoulder blade depression is different than downward rotation of the shoulder blade.

.

It seems that many yoga teachers are not clear on this. So they start saying that it’s wrong to cue students to keep the shoulders away from the ears. What they really mean is that the shoulder blade will have to rotate upwards to get the arm over the head. This does not mean you should encourage students to bring their shoulders up by their ears…or to overstrain to pull their  shoulders down your back. 

.

What if we just focused on encouraging students to keep some space between the ears and the shoulders without force?

.

There is a bit more to the puzzle here. The muscles used will have a large impact on how much students tend to elevate or depress the shoulder blade.  

I’ll talk about that in a lot more detail next week. Here’s just one hint…the muscles related to stress have a big impact!

Next week we will look at how the common stress response of bringing the shoulders up to the ears impacts the rotation of the shoulder blades. If you can understand this, you can confidently choose to your cues and give up the confusion over "Pull the shoulders away from the ears" versus "Bring the shoulders up towards the ears."

Read the next article now!

Categories: : Effective Teaching Techniques, Shoulders, Yoga Anatomy