The Shoulder blades
The shoulder blade/scapula is a triangular shaped flat bone sitting on our upper back and is part of the shoulder girdle. We have two, one on each side of the upper back. I’ve noticed with patients and yoga clients that a lot of us are very disconnected from the fact that we have shoulder blades and are unaware of what they do. I think maybe it is because we can’t see them as easily as other parts of our body.
When a physiotherapist looks at posture, neck and arm movement the shoulder blades position and how they move are an important part of our assessment. For a yoga teacher how a person uses and/or positions their shoulder blade during an asana can not only improve posture and arm movement but can also improve the quality and depth of the breath.
There are approximately 17 muscles that attach to the shoulder blade. Most are involved in shoulder girdle stability and shoulder girdle movements including those movements of the shoulder blade itself. Some of these muscles double as accessory muscles of breathing. Some are involved in neck and trunk movements. Most are involved in postural stability.
The shoulder blade moves in 6 directions.
The position of the shoulder blade during an asana can activate some muscles over others. We want to guide our shoulder blades to move efficiently so that we aren’t over active in muscles like the upper trapezius unnecessarily. Over active upper trapezius muscles can be a cause of neck and upper shoulder area pain.
By guiding our shoulder blade position across and down the back during some asanas we open up the front of our chest improving depth of breath and breath quality.
I spend time warming up the shoulder girdle area in most of my yoga classes. The movements I teach can connect us to this area and improve postural awareness, quality of breathing and help ease neck, upper shoulder and upper back pain. One yoga client recently told me that it felt like she had been for a massage.
Exercises for our shoulder blades can be done almost anywhere as they can be carried out in sitting, standing or lying down. They are especially useful after or during a long drive and if we are sitting at a computer/reading/writing for long periods of time.
The following is an example of one of the shoulder area warm ups that I teach. The arms turned inwards at the beginning of the warm up may not be suitable for those with long standing shoulder pain. This exercise can be adapted by placing forearms vertically on a wall instead.
Resources
-https://www.physio-pedia.com/Scapula
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