Poses for Tendoni ti s i n the Bi ceps

I've been dealing with recurring tendonitis in my biceps tendon for a year and a half.
Are there specific asanas that will help, or asanas I should avoid?
By J ohn Friend
--Maureen Bradley
John Fri end' s repl y:
The good news is that your yoga practice can be very therapeutic for this condition if
performed with good alignment. In general, the tendonitis will be aggravated by
muscular actions that pull the top of the biceps muscle away from the humerus (the
long bone of the upper part of the arm), and by any misalignment of the humerus.
The most common misalignments of the humerus include dropping the head of the
humerus (top of the arm bone) down away from the neck so that the shoulders slope
downward, excessively internally rotating the humerus (thumbs turning toward the
sides of the body when the arms are down by your sides), and drawing the head of the
humerus forward. Certainly, weight-bearing poses such as Chaturanga Dandasana
(Four-Limbed Staff Pose) will be more difficult to perform with good alignment and
therefore are considered riskier. So, it is important to choose poses in which you can
consistently maintain good alignment.
Here are some key alignment principles to practice in all poses which will help relieve
your biceps tendonitis:
Keep your shoulders square across so that they are not sloped downward. Keep
the sides of your ribs lifted from waistline to armpits.
1.
Move the head of the humerus straight back into the back plane of the body. 2.
Externally rotate the humerus. Do this as much as you can without pushing the
head of the arm bone forward.
3.
Maintaining the alignment of the arm bone as described above, engage the
biceps muscle so that it firmly hugs the humerus. In general, to keep the biceps
muscle engaged to the bone, the energy of the biceps muscle should flow from
the crease of the elbow to the front of the head of the arm bone.
4.
Apply the above alignment principles in the following poses:
All standing poses, especially Parsvakonasana (Side Angle Pose), Trikonasana
(Extended Triangle Pose), and Virabhadrasana II (Warrior II Pose).
All seated forward bends, especially J anu Sirsasana (Head-to-Knee Forward
Bend) and Parsva Upavistha Konasana (forward bending over one leg in
Upavistha Konasana).
It is in the most basic poses like Tadasana (Mountain Pose) or Sukhasana (Easy
Pose) where healing can take place.
Yoga J ournal - Poses for Tendonitis in the Biceps http://www.yogajournal.com/for_teachers/513?print=1
1 of 2 5/18/2012 4:31 AM
You can perform poses like Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward-Facing Dog) and
Bhujangasana (Cobra Pose) in which the arms are weight-bearing if you can maintain
good alignment. Chaturanga Dandasana is one of the most difficult poses to keep the
head of arm bone in alignment. Every time the head of the arm bone goes forward and
the biceps pulls forward, away from the bone, you will aggravate the injury. Therefore,
it might be prudent to skip this pose until you heal.
Thi s month' s expert, John Fri end, i s the founder of Anusara Yoga, whi ch
combi nes the cel ebrati on of the heart, the art of i nner body awareness, and the
sci ence of uni versal pri nci pl es of al i gnment. For further hel p i n l earni ng these
al i gnment pri nci pl es, pl ease consul t an Anusara Yoga teacher i n your area by
vi si ti ng www.Anusara.com or cal l i ng (888) 398-9642.
Return to http://www.yogajournal.com/for_teachers/513
Yoga J ournal - Poses for Tendonitis in the Biceps http://www.yogajournal.com/for_teachers/513?print=1
2 of 2 5/18/2012 4:31 AM