‘You can usually do things to ease shoulder pain yourself. See a GP if it does not start feeling better after 2 weeks. You usually need to do these things for 2 weeks before shoulder pain starts to ease. It can take 4 to 6 weeks to recover fully from mild shoulder pain.’
A shoulder injury can be exacerbated by lifestyle. Things like using a mouse, or working with a dominant side repetitively set up the situation for injury to occur. Try to work more symmetrically through your right and left side.
The main concern is dislocation, overstretching and exacerbating the injury. Be careful with any pose that works the shoulder joint or requires weight bearing on the joint.
Yoga can help by:
- Increasing shoulder strength
- Increasing the range of motion
- Balance the shoulder muscles to reduce future possibilities for damage
Do
- Move the shoulder area but keep it light, short and relaxed
- Use your less dominant side more
Don’t
- Poses exercise caution with Anything where you actively stretch the shoulder area (ie eagle, cowface)
- Poses to avoid: anything where you bear weight on or through the shoulder joint ( ie dog, plank, handstands).