Neck Injuries?

[Guest guest]

Hey all, <br><br>I've been practicing the Primary

Series (in "Led" classes 1-2x/week) and at home

(3x/week)for a few months now, and overall, I have found the

experience of establishing a regular practice very

rewarding. A few years ago I was in a bike crash and landed

on my neck....no trauma, but my neck was sore for a

couple of monts (exams by Drs. revealed only soft

tissure damage). A few months after the crash, I felt

OK.<br><br>Fast forward to last week. For a week or so, my neck

felt "tingly" and a little sore. Sometimes, the

tingling feeling went to my forearms. Right now I feel OK,

but at this point I'm nervous about doing any

shoulder-stand or head-stand based asanas (which is a LOT of the

closing series). How long does one wait until doing

inversions after experiencing these kinds of symptoms? I

feel OK, but I don't want to make things any

worse.<br><br>Any help from the more experienced teachers/students

out there would be appreciated!<br><br>Dan

[Guest guest]

I have noticed that sometimes as my practice

progresses, I will begin to get strange feelings that I have

never experienced, and I'm often worried about whether

or not I'm hurting myself. I have often been told,

and now tell my own students, that any kind of

tingling or numbness in joints (esp. knees, which happen

to be my area of injury)is a forerunner to pain, and

you should back off.<br>I would ask your teacher to

observe you carefully in shoulderstand, to make sure that

the proper amount of weight is off of the neck. Often

times teachers can give adjustments that significantly

reduce the amount of weight on the neck.<br>In some

cases of muscle discomfort in the practice, as long as

it is just discomfort, it could be a sign of your

practice moving forward, and your body adjusting. But I am

not saying this as an expert on necks - someone

please correct me if I am wrong. But as Pattabhi Jois

says, "Practice, practice, all is coming" - in other

words, the practice itself may make this go away.

[Guest guest]

i have been practicing two-and-a-half years and

here's one thing i've learned about shoulderstand: your

shoulders should be bearing the weight not your neck. a

good thing to do is visualize opening up the front of

your throat -- this often reminds me not to tense my

neck and to shift the weight off of it. good luck and

please don't hurt yourself.