Ah, what a way to start the weekend — a 9am physio appointment. At least it was softened by meeting Hubby for brunch straight afterwards — and actually it was quite fun in its own way.

Physio seemed strangely interested to see me again and quizzed me about my yoga practice and teacher training — surely I didn’t make such an impression over a year ago that she remembered these details…? Today we were looking at my right shoulder, a long term problem area for me and currently giving me pain into my right upper arm. Interesting diagnosis — still something not right with the supraspinatus, but not showing up unambiguously in the classic diagnostics. She tracked the pain back to my neck: lots of sensitivity as she poked around and some obvious stiffness. But apparently I have a nice straight thoracic spine! I guess that’s partly good, then!

She’s given me a few exercises to do for the neck and to improve movement of the scapula. The way she explained the required movements was really interesting. To my ears it was much less readily understandable than the cues from my teacher in a vinyasa class! So in my head I translated her instructions into familiar yoga poses. The exercise for the trapezius was a bit like the top half of Śalabhāsana and for the serratus anterior like establishing a strong Phalakāsana. Times like these I realise how well I am taught — and how much my body has learned.

And this is the perfect excuse to get a bit nerdy back at home and look at the anatomy of the shoulder again!