Uneven Shoulder Blades

“I have noticed that there are many people walking around with scaplua that are not even (i.e. the left is noticeably lower than the right).  There have been a few cases in my group mat classes where I brought the client to our resident Physical Therapist who said that there were no spinal or rotator cuff issues that it was a bad habit/posture that caused it.  He also said that it is very common. I have brought Telescope Arms, Angel Arms and Sternum Drops into class.  What would you suggest?” Cheri Wild

by Lesley Powell

The Physical therapist is right.  When you see a problem, you need to look below or above to see how the body is organized.  You have to look at the entire body.

When a student comes in, I observe how they walk, stand, sit and lie down.  Poor patterns of alignment will keep showing up in an exercise.

Scoliosis could be a major factor why a shoulder might be higher.  As a teacher, make your clients aware of feeling balanced in an exercise.  Scoliosis for many is a muscular imbalance.  Some cases of scoliosis could be hereditary due to spinal or leg differences.

What to look for:

Standing

• standing evenly on both legs
• one hip high or rotated

Sitting

• even weight on sitz bones
• alignment of ribs over pelvis
• side bending - more flexibility on one side

Supine

• pelvis - is it level/rotated?
• ribs - how align with pelvis?
• neutral bridge- are they even on both legs? Legs parallel?

Prone

• more tone on one side of the back
• side bending in prone

Especially in a group mat class,  I would keep the students aware of being balanced in an exercise. Are they rolling down evenly on both sides?  Do they favor a side?   Also finding out which sides are tighter and weaker can help to retrain the problems