Hot yoga is an umbrella term for any style of yoga practiced in a heated environment. The yoga poses and sequences as well as the duration of the class can vary greatly. According to the website Hot Yoga, the room temperature is generally about 100 degrees Fahrenheit, depending on the policies of the studio. Yoga can help you strengthen your shoulders and gently stretch them to maintain mobility and reduce the risk of further injury; however, depending on the cause of your shoulder soreness, hot yoga may do more harm than good.
Composition of the Shoulder
The main joint in the shoulder is formed by the arm bone and the shoulder blade. The joint socket is shallow, allowing a wide range of motion in the arm. The rotator cuff is made up of four muscles that surround the arm bone. The cuff keeps the arm steady when it moves.
Common Causes of Shoulder Pain
Soreness in the rotator cuff tendon is often the culprit in shoulder pain. You can damage your rotator cuff during any activity in which you lift your arm, including painting, playing certain sports, and lifting objects -- even if they're not that heavy. The muscle that rests on top of the shoulder, called the supraspinatus, has a tendon which travels beneath the shoulder. This tendon is frequently injured because of where it rests between the bones. When the tendon becomes inflamed, it can become pinched between the bones, which causes pain.
Yoga
There are several poses that help strengthen and stretch the shoulder; including cow-faced pose, eagle arms, and archer arms. Unless your shoulder pain is severe, you should be able to go to just about any yoga class to help with your shoulder recovery, depending on what level of yoga you are used to practicing. However, if you are going to practice yoga with a shoulder injury, you must be willing to make adjustments to the poses: Practice poses that put weight on your shoulder carefully or on your knees to alleviate some of the weight; stretch your shoulders carefully and gently. It is important to stretch the shoulder when recovering from an injury; otherwise, it could progress into a much more serious state, called frozen shoulder syndrome.
Ayurveda
Ayurveda is a system of medicine founded thousands of years ago in India and is still practiced worldwide today. In India, yoga and ayurveda are inseparable, and specific instruction on how to handle a sore shoulder are given. According to ayurveda, practicing yoga in an artificially heated environment can increase the inflammation of the tendon in the shoulder, making it more painful. You should rest and regularly apply sesame oil to the affected area. If your sore shoulder should progress to a frozen shoulder, called "apabahukam" in ayurveda -- a vata disease characterized by acute pain, loss of motion, and stiffness in the shoulder -- you may require more serious treatment, called a "Panchakarma." Before practicing yoga or applying any sort of treatment to your shoulder, please consult your primary physician.
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