Bring your hands up between your shoulder blades.
Bob’s wrists were really hurting. Bob is thinking that Parsvottanasana is such a simple pause, that all he has to do is put his hands together behind his back, take a step forward and bend over. But his wrists are really hurting. The more he tries to get his palms together behind his back the more his wrists hurt.
Finally Bob’s yoga teacher comes over offers Bob some modifications that will remove the pain in his wrists.
What is Parsvottanasana
Parsvottanasana is one of the standing poses of Ashtanga Yoga. It occurs about half way through the Standing Series. The Sanskrit name translates as “Intense Side Stretch”.
This pose is a standing forward bend that stretches the spine, shoulders, wrists, hips and hamstrings.
It is a simple pose that all beginners can attempt. The challenging area for most will be with the wrists.
How to do the pose
You enter this pose from Tadasana, standing at the front of your mat with your feet together, your toes touching and a slight gap between your heels.
- Bring your arms behind your back, place your palms together and bring them up your back between your shoulder blades. Your elbows will be pointing down and your little fingers will be pressing gently into your spine between your shoulder blades.
- Turn around and face the back of your mat
- While keeping your hips square with the end of your mat take a step with your right foot. There will be almost a leg length between your feet. Your right foot is pointing at the end of the mat and your left foot, the back foot, is turned slightly out to the side. The heel of your right foot lines up with the heel of your left foot.
- Finally you bring the top of your hips forward and down towards your right thigh and gaze towards your right big toe.
Eventually you will be resting your torso on your right thigh and your palms will be flat together with your hands between your shoulder blades.
When you first attempt this pose you will notice a lot of discomfort in your wrists as you attempt to bring your hands together behind your back and up between shoulder blades.
Why is there a problem with your wrists
The wrists are not the problem in this pose. Your wrists are the victim. The real culprit in this pose is your shoulders.
When you bring your palms together behind your back you are attempting to move your shoulders in a direction that they normally do not go. If your shoulder muscles are flexible enough you will be able to bring your palms together between your shoulder blades with ease. However this is seldom the case when you first attempt this pose.
Most people spend a lot of time working with their arms forward in front of them and they tend to bring their shoulders forward as well. This combination of forward movements results in the shortening of the muscles at the front of the shoulders. It is this shortening of these muscles that is preventing your palms and wrists from coming together behind your back.
What can you do about your wrists
Bob’s teacher takes him through these three alternatives to find out which one is the right one for him to use.
There are three modifications that you can do with your arms in this pose to accommodate the lack of mobility in the front of your shoulders. Each of these alternatives is meant to work with increasing inflexible shoulders.
Once you move from attempting to put your palms together behind your back to these alternatives you will find that the pain in the wrists is gone and now you are aware of the tension and tightness in the shoulders.
Try the first variation, if it does not reduce the level of discomfort in your shoulders then move on to the next alternative and so on until you find one that works for you and your shoulders.
Three options to protect your wrists.
Alternative #1 Make a fist
Make fists with your hands and bring them together behind your back. In this variation the back of your hands are touching your back and your closed fists are together with the top of your fingers next to your palms pressing into the fingers of your other hand.
If you find this alternative too challenging you can move on to the next one and grab your wrists.
Alternative #2 Grab your wrists
With your arms behind your back you grab the opposite wrist in your hand. Your left hand holds your right wrist and vice versa. This second alternative will accommodate a greater degree of stiffness in your shoulders than the “Make a Fist” alternative.
There is one more arm position that you can attempt if grabbing your wrists does not reduce the discomfort in your shoulders enough.
Alternative #3 Hold your forearms
In this alternative you let go of your wrists and bring your hands up on to your forearm and hold on here. This final alternative usually removes all discomfort from the wrists and shoulders.
Bob discovers that the second choice, “Grab your wrists”, is the best one for him. The pain in his wrists is gone and the stretch in his shoulders is just challenging enough that he can comfortably hold the pose for a while.
What can Alice do when her hands get stuck in her top?
Whenever Alice attempts to do this pose, her hands always get stuck in her top. Her fingers catch in the material and her hands stop moving up her back. She feels that her arms can go further.
Alice can follow this simple technique to get her hands further up her back and avoid getting stuck in her clothes.
- Start by placing your hands behind your back with your palms together pointing down towards the floor.
- Next you draw your shoulder blades together behind your back and lift your arms away from your back. This is the key. This movement of your arms away from your back will help to keep your fingertips from getting stuck in your clothes.
- Keep your fingertips away from your back as you bend your elbows and turn your palms inward towards your body and upwards towards your shoulder blades.
- Continue to keep your hands away from your back as your lift them up towards your shoulder blades.
- Eventually your hands will come to rest on your back and with any luck they will be further up your back then they were before.
Summary
Parsvottanasana is a simple posture to perform but there is a lot of pressure put on your wrists because your shoulders are not flexible enough to allow your hands and wrists to come together behind your back. Try the alternative hand placements (fists, wrists and forearm) to relieve the pain in your wrists and the discomfort in your shoulders.
Next steps
Get together with your yoga teacher like Bob did and find the best placement of your hands behind your back for you in Parsvottasana.
