Yoga for shoulder pain: what helps, poses to start with, and how to protect your shoulder

Keep using the arm

Most shoulder pain settles. The NHS says to look after it yourself for 2 weeks, that recovery can take 6 months or longer, and "do not completely stop using your shoulder", but not to make up your own strenuous exercises or use heavy gym equipment.

Source 1

Yoga has barely been tested

In 72 people with early frozen shoulder, adding standing yoga poses to usual care made no difference. In office workers, yoga eased neck and shoulder pain about as well as stretching, and after breast cancer surgery it helped shoulder movement more than an exercise DVD.

Sources 2, 3, 4

Strengthening helps most

Gradual strengthening of the rotator cuff and shoulder-blade muscles is the mainstay for most shoulder pain, and yoga poses that take weight or hold the arms up can be part of it.

Sources 5, 6

Use the 5 out of 10 rule

During strengthening, pain up to about 5 out of 10 is acceptable if it's back to where it was by your next session. If it isn't, use a smaller range or less weight next time, not nothing.

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Frozen shoulder: stay in the comfortable range

Gentle exercise within your pain limits did better than intensive stretching through pain, and the NHS warns that keeping the shoulder still makes the pain worse.

Sources 7, 8

Build up weight on your arms in steps

We found no study that measured shoulder load in chaturanga or downward dog. Push-ups with the hands raised or the knees down put less force through the hands, so start at a wall, then a table, then the floor with your knees down.

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The common causes

Most shoulder pain comes from the rotator cuff tendons (often called impingement, a name our shoulder impingement guide explains is misleading), a frozen shoulder, arthritis in the shoulder, or a shoulder that slips or has dislocated. Pain can also come from the neck, and rarely from the heart, as our shoulder pain guide sets out.

How yoga loads the shoulder

Yoga takes the arms overhead (sun salutations take them fully overhead and back down in every round), puts weight on the hands in plank, downward dog, chaturanga and side plank, takes the arms behind you in binds and across you in eagle and cow face, and loads the shoulders in shoulder stand and backbends like wheel.

In a lab study of 15 static postures in 20 women, the shoulder-blade muscles worked at 3% to 57% of their maximum, with locust (arms forward) the hardest for the lower trapezius. In planks, more body weight on the arms meant more shoulder muscle work.

Sources 12, 13, 10

Shoulders in yoga injury studies

Of 89 people injured by yoga at one US clinic, 6 had rotator cuff injuries, and tears of the supraspinatus (a rotator cuff tendon) and the shoulder's cartilage rim were among the commonest yoga injuries on scans in 38 patients. A survey of more than 1,300 teachers named the shoulder among the most common sites. Serious problems are uncommon: across 9 studies, about 2% of practitioners had one.

Sources 14, 15, 16, 17

Early frozen shoulder: yoga added nothing in 4 weeksEmerging evidence

In 72 people in the painful early stage of frozen shoulder, 30 minutes of eight standing poses, taught under supervision and then done once a day at home for 4 weeks, added to anti-inflammatory medicines and physiotherapy, made no difference to pain and disability (scores of 40.67 against 40.03 out of 100). No side effects were seen.

Source 2

A small comparison with physiotherapyMixed evidence

In 40 people with frozen shoulder, allocated in a partly random way, yoga poses and physiotherapy both helped over 4 weeks, with slightly more improvement in lifting the arm out to the side after yoga.

Source 18

Rotator cuff tendon painMixed evidence

In 45 overhead athletes, a programme combining physiotherapy exercises and yoga improved pain and function, but the study design can't show yoga itself helped.

Source 19

Neck and shoulder pain at workEmerging evidence

In 150 office workers with mild to moderate neck and shoulder pain, a 30-minute weekly hatha yoga class for 4 weeks, with home practice, worked about as well as stretching, and the commonest side effects were muscle or joint pain and muscle tension. In 80 office workers, yoga, a Thai exercise programme and stretching helped equally.

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After breast cancer surgeryEmerging evidence

In 444 women who had recently finished surgery and other treatment for early breast cancer, the abstract reports that 12 weeks of yoga improved shoulder rotation flexibility and one back-scratch test more than an exercise DVD group, at every check to 12 months; pain, fatigue, sleep, mood and quality of life didn't differ between groups. In smaller trials, yoga didn't change arm and shoulder pain more than follow-up alone (42 women), and improved posture and shoulder strength in 23 women with arm swelling (lymphoedema).

Sources 4, 21, 22

No trials in tears, arthritis or a loose shoulderMixed evidence

We found no study of yoga for a torn rotator cuff, shoulder arthritis or an unstable shoulder, and a 2024 review of 8 studies found only limited evidence for yoga and shoulder movement.

Sources 23, 24

Strengthening is what has the evidenceStrong evidence

In 102 people with long-standing impingement pain that earlier treatment hadn't helped, specific rotator cuff and shoulder-blade exercises led to success in 69% against 24% with general exercise, and 20% went on to choose surgery against 63%. In 708 adults with rotator cuff disorders, up to 6 physiotherapy sessions of progressive exercise did no better over a year than one session of good advice with a home programme.

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Back to yoga after a shoulder replacementEmerging evidence

Of 15 yoga practitioners with an average age of 69 who had a shoulder replacement, 60% were back to yoga by 6 months and all of them by 12. It's a small series.

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It gets better, slowly

The NHS says frozen shoulder can be painful and stiff for months or sometimes years, but "the pain and stiffness will usually go away eventually". The British Elbow and Shoulder Society's care pathway calls it "a self-resolving pathology", and notes that its stages overlap, so they are of limited use for treatment decisions.

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Gentle beats forcefulEmerging evidence

In 77 people with frozen shoulder, exercise within pain limits left 89% with normal or near-normal shoulders at 2 years, against 63% after intensive stretching through pain. The NHS says to keep moving the shoulder, because keeping it still makes the pain worse, but not to make up strenuous exercises.

Sources 7, 8

Injections and physiotherapy

The care pathway says a steroid injection into the joint eases symptoms faster than waiting, with no benefit seen after about 3 months, and that physiotherapy should be offered after an injection. These are decisions for your GP or physiotherapist.

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Yoga in the painful stage

Keep to gentle, assisted movement: pendulum swings, table slides and a stick to help the arm turn out, without pushing through pain. Standing poses with the arms low are fine if they're comfortable, but don't expect them to speed recovery.

Sources 2, 8

Strengthen, graduallyStrong evidence

For pain from the rotator cuff tendons, progressive strengthening of the rotator cuff and shoulder-blade muscles is the main treatment, and one good session of advice with a home programme can do as well as several physiotherapy sessions.

Sources 5, 6

The 5 out of 10 rule

During shoulder strengthening, pain up to about 5 out of 10 is acceptable, and a little is expected. By your next session it should be back to where it was before. If it isn't, use a smaller range or less load next time, not nothing. This is how the Holmgren trial of 102 people set each person's load, and our shoulder guides use the same rule.

Source 5

Which poses work the shoulder bladesEmerging evidence

In the lab, locust with the arms forward worked the trapezius hardest of 15 postures, and several postures worked the serratus anterior (the muscle that holds the shoulder blade against the ribs) moderately; warrior II, dancer's pose and reverse tabletop worked them only lightly. Wheel and forearm stand load the shoulder girdle heavily, a study in yoga athletes notes. These are healthy people in a lab, not trials of treatment.

Sources 13, 10, 27

We found no study of their loadMixed evidence

We found no study that measured shoulder load in chaturanga or downward dog, so advice on them is expert opinion, as our vinyasa yoga guide says.

Source 11

What push-up and plank studies showEmerging evidence

In 23 adults, push-ups with the hands raised or from the knees put less peak force through the hands than standard push-ups, and push-ups with the feet raised put more. In 21 healthy men, taking more body weight onto the arms in plank variations generally meant more shoulder and shoulder-blade muscle work.

Sources 9, 10

An order to follow

Our editorial order: wall push-ups, then hands on a table or chair seat, then knees down on the floor (cat-cow, a knee plank), then a full plank and downward dog. Move on when the step before is easy and pain stays within the 5 out of 10 rule.

Source 9

Chaturanga and flowing classes

While your shoulder hurts, lower with your knees down, go only halfway, or leave chaturanga out (expert opinion; our vinyasa yoga guide says the same). Repeated rounds add up: sun salutations take the shoulders from fully overhead and back down in every round, so do fewer rounds and step back slowly.

Source 12

After a dislocation, or with a shoulder that slips

The NHS says it usually takes 6 to 12 weeks to recover from a dislocated shoulder, and up to 16 weeks to return to some sports; your doctor or physiotherapist will say when. Keep your arm in front of you at first, avoid taking it out to the side and back (the position a shoulder dislocates in, as our shoulder guides explain), and stop if it feels about to slip. Our hypermobility guide quotes the Hypermobility Syndromes Association's advice to choose yoga "focused on strengthening and control rather than increasing flexibility".

Source 28

After a shoulder replacementEmerging evidence

In a small series, all 15 yoga practitioners were back to yoga within a year of a shoulder replacement. Follow your surgeon's restrictions and build up weight on the arm gradually.

Source 25

After breast cancer surgery

Yoga helped shoulder movement in a large trial, but start only with your breast team's go-ahead and do their arm exercises first; our breast cancer surgery guide covers them.

Source 4

Call 999 or go to accident and emergency (A&E)

These are the same warning signs as our shoulder pain guide. In the US, call 911 for 999, and use your doctor's urgent line or urgent care for NHS 111.

• After a fall or injury, your shoulder looks out of place or has changed shape, or you cannot move your arm. Do not drive yourself, and do not try to put it back in yourself.
• Shoulder or arm pain with chest pain that feels tight or squeezing, or chest pain that spreads to your arms, neck or jaw, especially with shortness of breath, sweating or feeling sick. It could be a heart attack.
• You suddenly can't fully lift both arms and keep them there, because of weakness or numbness in one arm, especially if one side of your face droops or you slur your words or sound confused. It could be a stroke. Call even if the signs have stopped.
• If you are or could be pregnant, shoulder tip pain (where the shoulder ends and the arm begins) with sudden severe tummy pain, dizziness or fainting. It can mean bleeding from an ectopic pregnancy.

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Get help the same day (GP or NHS 111)

• Sudden weakness lifting the arm after an injury or fall. A rotator cuff tear caused by an injury needs urgent referral to a shoulder specialist.
• The shoulder or arm is hot, swollen or red, or you have a high temperature or feel unwell. A joint infection needs same-day care.
• Sudden or very bad shoulder pain; you cannot move your arm; the arm or shoulder is badly swollen or has changed shape; pins and needles that do not go away; no feeling in the arm; the arm is hot or cold to the touch; pain that started after an injury such as a fall; or severe pain in both shoulders.
• You are over 50 and have new pain and stiffness in both shoulders (often the hips too), especially with morning stiffness lasting more than 45 minutes. This can be polymyalgia rheumatica.

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See a GP or physiotherapist soon

In many areas you can refer yourself to physiotherapy.

• Pain that is getting worse or has not improved after 2 weeks of looking after it yourself, or it is very hard to move your arm.
• Your shoulder has partly or fully come out of joint, or you worry it might.
• Pins and needles or a cold arm alongside neck pain, or a new loss of strength or feeling in the arm that you cannot explain.
• A past history of cancer, an unexplained lump or swelling, weight loss, or pain that is constant and does not ease when you change position.

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In class, stop the pose

Stop for sharp pain, a feeling that the shoulder is slipping, pins and needles or numbness down the arm, or pain that is still worse by your next session after strengthening.

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"Rest the shoulder until it stops hurting"Strong evidence

The NHS says "do not completely stop using your shoulder", and with frozen shoulder, keeping it still makes the pain worse.

Sources 1, 8

"Push through the pain to free a frozen shoulder"Emerging evidence

Exercise within pain limits did better than intensive stretching through pain: 89% against 63% had near-normal shoulders at 2 years.

Source 7

"Downward dog heals the rotator cuff"Mixed evidence

Some poses work the shoulder-blade muscles in the lab, but no trial shows yoga heals the rotator cuff. Progressive strengthening is what has the evidence.

Sources 13, 5

"Chaturanga causes most yoga shoulder injuries"Mixed evidence

We found no study that measured its load, and in an Australian survey the practices most often linked to injuries were headstands, shoulder stands and lotus. Changing it while your shoulder hurts is still sensible (expert opinion).

Sources 11, 30