The foundation of a pose, let’s take downward facing dog as a prime example since it’s practiced with such frequency in vinyasa yoga, supports the shoulder girdle. The foundation is also the body part that bears most of the body weight.  Therefore, in downward facing dog not only are your wrists at risk for injury but your entire arm is also at risk. With a weak foundation your arms lack the necessary to adequately support the weight of your shoulders. It’s really just basic physics if you think about it. If you exert half of your body weight into the earth through your hands in downward facing dog, then the earth equally pushes that amount of force back up. This is the root and rebound principle. If misalignment occurs, you compensate physically and the most vulnerable areas suffer i.e. your joints. Think back to my post These Cavles Were Made For Walking and about how tensegrity or tensional integrity plays into inuries. If one part of the structure is off the entire structure is affected and equilibrium is disturbed. Over time, people develop wrist injures and shoulder injures from repetitive stress on these areas because the foundation of the pose is not established correctly.

The good news is that it’s totally possible to prevent RSI and enjoy the benefits of asanas where your hands are the foundation. Use your yoga practice to reflect when practicing downward facing dog, plank, chaturanga or any other pose, which places weight on the wrists. Notice where you compensate so you can bring union back into your body. For example, in plank pose, drop your knees to the ground to lessen the burden on the wrists and shoulders. Every body is different and when you pause to reflect on what your body is doing right now in time and space, not only do you reduce you risk your injury but you regain control over your body.

YOGI TIDBIT TO TRY: (refer to the photo below)

• Stand next to a wall so that your face is profile to the wall and place your palm on the wall. Push your hand into the wall and focus on the inner palm. Pull your shoulder blades down your back and push them onto your back. Release your pinky and ring finger so you feel a true connection between your inner palm and the wall. Then place the other fingers back on the wall and continue to root into the palm and fingertips so the hand is totally flat. Think about the root and rebound principle here…push hard into the wall to receive the energy back through the core of your arm.
• Maintain the hand pressing firmly into the wall as you pull your triceps down and roll the bicep up slightly. Pause for a moment and reflect. Notice your inner palm, the mound of the thumb and index finger start to lift a little from the wall. DON’T LET THAT HAPPEN! By rolling your triceps down, biceps up AND pushing hard into the palm, particularly the inner palm, you stabilize the entire arm all the way up through the shoulder. If you don’t feel your back muscles and your arm muscles burning at this point, call me
• This exercise is a fantastic preparation before taking doing any asana in which the hands serve as the foundation, i.e. downward facing dog, plank, chaturanga and handstand.