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Elbowstand injury help
Hey Everyone
I was doing an elbow stand against the pole which is something I've been doing for a looong time now. Kind of like in this pic
http://www.fluidmovement.net/elbow%20stand.jpg
http://www.fluidmovement.net/elbow
I like to do this to try to improve my back flexibility (in addition with other exercises) and hope one day to get my feet to touch the floor.
All of a sudden I heard a pop and then pain started spreading around the the base of my neck
and in between my spine and shoulder blade on one side.
This happened last Wednesday and the pain has been easing up more and more everyday I think I will feel back to normal by this Wednesday. The problem is I don't know what I did wrong and why this happened and what I can do to avoid it happening again but I don't want to stop working on my elbow stand/ bridge type thing.
If anyone has any ideas of cause and or prevention please let me know
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6 Replies
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Hey Cherished!
Quick question, when you do your elbow stand is your head touching the ground?
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Sorry, meant to post this with the other one. If your head is touching the ground, that could have been the cause of your neck pop. If you had let the force of your body weight drop on your neck you could have seriously injured yourself. I believe Veena has a video on shoulder stands if you need some tips
If that is not the case, you could have popped something out of place when you bent your legs backwards. The body weight again could have put pressure on your spine. I'm not a doctor by far or any kind of therapist, but from back cracking experience I would be very careful doing elbow stands again. Hope this helps! <33
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There should be little to NO weight on your head when doing any tripod based invert balance poses. i have suffered from the vertebrae in my upper back being compacted doing poses like that incorrectly and had to see chiropractor alot. the head is just for balance- no weight.
if you still hurt, i suggest seeing a doctor.
if you wish to continue practicing these poses, maybe consult a professional yogi or other expert to ensure you have correct alignment and are not doing something wrong.
good luck -
Please see a doctor! What your describing should be checked by a professional.
In addition to not bearing weight on your head/neck, you should not be using an elbow stand to "improve" flexibility. It should be the other way around – you should do supported and safe flexibility training to improve your arch in a forearm stand.
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DEFINITELY get this checked out.
when you do an elbowstand, as others have mentioned, you should be pushing the floor away from you by shrugging your shoulders towards your ears (down towards the floor) and bearing very little weight on your head. You should also be keeping your neck neutral the entire time– many times people set up by clasping their hands on the base of the pole, and it makes it nearly ipmossible to keep a neutral spine when you set up that close.
when you touch your toes towards the ground, your head should be lifted completely off the floor and your weight should be on your forearms only. see how my face is turned toward the camera? it's because imy head isn't stuck on the ground. https://www.studioveena.com/photos/view_photo/4d64785e-42a4-4564-937f-5d310ac37250
I know a bunch of flexibility coaches that use bridges (either with hands on the ground, or with forearms) for flexibility training, but you should make sure that you have the right form and have a spotter.
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Hi Everyone,
Thank you all for responding Haley,Katana,Mary Ellen and Amy 🙂
My head wasn't touching the ground or had pressure on it but I realized my chin was more in a tucked position whereas I've noticed everyone usually has their head up looking up.
Also the pop came when my legs moved down a bit further (I kind of let them hang and sort of drop down with gravity). Another thing I was very close to the pole so maybe too close as Amy mentioned and shouldn't have let them hang in light of what Mary Ellen pointed out?
Also Amy when I clicked on the link it brings me to the home page instead of showing the picture
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