When I stand and hold my arms out in front of me, palms up, my elbows bow out. In down dog, my forearms look almost parallel to the ground, and then there’s a bend in my elbows, so my arms end up looking incredibly crooked. I understand this could cause injury, so I’m eager to improve my alignment. Can anyone give me advice?
Hi livrg, welcome to the forum 
I’m trying to picture what you’re describing here. Standing normally, are you physically able to lock out (completely straighten) your elbows?
[QUOTE=David;15403]Hi livrg, welcome to the forum
I’m trying to picture what you’re describing here. Standing normally, are you physically able to lock out (completely straighten) your elbows?[/QUOTE]
Thanks, David ; ) Standing normally, I can only completely straighten my arms if I face my palms down to the floor. When I flip my palms up, I am straight in the upper arm, and then as soon as I get to the elbow they bow out to the sides.
I tried to draw a picture that illustrates what I mean, but I’m having trouble uploading it as an attachment…
David - see if you can see my drawing at http://picasaweb.google.com/livrachelle/Yoga
I had to spell it out because I’m only able to post URLs after making 15 posts or more.
Livrg,
it’s best when making anatomical references to do so from the anatomical position. This keeps confusion to a minimum.
Your diagram seems to show supination of the arms. That would be the same in the anatomical position though your arms would be extended straight out in front of your chest.
If you have alignment issues between the humerus and the radius/ulna AND/OR some issues with connective tissue in the elbow joint, that should be looked at and corrected by your asana teacher. There are very specific protocols for working with these sorts of issues. Actions, alignments, props, instructions, et all are carefully crafted to bring a student with such issues into proper (safe and effective) position.
I think EVERYONE can give you advice. That isn’t the pertinent question. The pertinent question is “can a highly trained yoga teacher give you feedback following assessment in order to bring you toward rather than away from alignment?”.
I couldn’t agree more with Inner Athlete - for these delicate issues you need to see a very experienced yoga teacher or a yoga therapist. You need to be assessed first, followed by recommendations for your specific anatomy.
So, I’m just guessing here. There seem to be two issues going on:
(1) You appear to have “carrying angle” - your lower arm angles out from the upper arm. This is common in many women. It is not a cause for concern if you choose for proper alignment: To avoid undue strain in your shoulders, you need to align your upper arms and NOT your lower arms. Generally, this means that your hands will be wider than your shoulders. E.g. don’t do an upward namast?, but keep your hands more than shoulder width apart with palms facing each other. E.g. place your hands further apart than shoulder width in downward dog.
(2) You appear not to be able to straighten you arms fully, especially in a weight bearing situation like downward dog. This probably means that your elbow extensors are weaker than your elbow flexors. Your triceps are weaker than you biceps. This means that you need to work on triceps strength. You could do this with cat bows (moving your chest forward and downward from cat position) or going in and out of table pose.
So my guess is that a wider hand position and some preparatory exercises to improve triceps strength should help you. But let me stress that this is guesswork. Please consult a good teacher or yoga therapist to help you along.
Hiya livrg
Thanks for the picture, that helped a lot.
I agree with the gentlemen above that it would be best to work with an extremely experienced asana teacher or yoga therapist if it is within your means. However, I’m also all too aware that such teachers aren’t as common as we might desire and/or the cost of working with one can be prohibitive for many. As such, I’ll offer a little advice while first saying I am NOT an extremely advanced asana teacher or yoga therapist, I’m only coming from personal experience, so please take that into account.
For many years, I was unable to straighten my right elbow. Based upon what I’ve experienced, I thought the same as Willem stated above when he said, “You appear not to be able to straighten you arms fully, especially in a weight bearing situation like downward dog. This probably means that your elbow extensors are weaker than your elbow flexors. Your triceps are weaker than you biceps. This means that you need to work on triceps strength.” I’d probably take it one step further and guess than maybe one or two heads (there are lateral, medial, and long heads) of your triceps are weak based upon what you describe.
On a personal level, this led to many injuries because I love to practice handstands. Due to my lack of ability to straighten my right elbow, far too much of my 185lbs ended up on my shoulder area during handstand. It took me a long time to realize that the issue wasn’t my shoulder so much as it was my biceps being MUCH stronger than my triceps (I was one of those guys curling 45lbs in the gym and doing very little tricep work hahah).
In an effort to use my (rather broken) body as a learning tool, I puchased a large full length mirror off of craigslist for $20.00 from someone renovating their bathroom. Practicing asana and studying our bodies in front of a mirror is EXTREMELY beneficial and allows us to spot many of our own misalignments. In the case of my arm weakness, I began to study anatomy books, yoga books, and myself in the mirror. Focusing on [B]engaging the ever loving heck out of my triceps[/B] in everything from Down Dog to Vasistasana has helped immesurably. I also stand in front of the mirror, straighten my arms down at my sides with my palms faced towards the mirror and ENGAGE my triceps. I then SLOWLY rotate my arms to the point where my palms are facing away from the mirror, keeping my triceps engaged. This helps to hit all three heads. Be sure to pay VERY close attention as you rotate as you might notice your intense engagement becomes less engaged as you go around. Do this a few times a day for awhile and your triceps and you will have a newfound relationship to the point that you might choose to name the three heads of your triceps and invite them for tea on occasion.
After a few months of this, I can now straighten my right arm. Woo! It’s amazing how much it has also helped my handstand (strong foundations work wonders). Will this work for you? I have no idea and it sounds like your issue may be more complicated than mine. But I thought I’d share if for no other reason that to showcase that if a great asana teacher or yoga therapist isn’t around, we can find what we need within ourselves.
Strengthening in the absence of alignment will lead to imbalance.
Alignment precedes strengthening.
All of these replies have been very helpful; thank you. I realize I should have been (and must continue to be) patient – I’ll see my teacher the day after tomorrow, and then I can ask her for advice. In-person counsel will certainly be more helpful and safe!