Yoga guide
Yoga is a good way to keep your shoulders moving and build some strength: back lifts like locust work the muscles between your shoulder blades, plank and downward dog put weight through your arms, and reaching poses take your arms overhead and behind. In older adults, yoga improved arm strength and reach behind the back about as much as a stretching and strengthening programme, and for tight, sore necks it worked about as well as stretching. Tight shoulders have been measured as stiffer, not shorter, and strengthening eased them in trials, so strength matters as much as stretching.
This guide covers what tight shoulders are, the neck and upper back, strength and mobility, how to build up to plank and downward dog, the poses to change, what the evidence shows, and a free 25-minute class with every move shown in 3D. If your shoulder hurts, start with our yoga for shoulder pain guide; if you have chest pain with arm or shoulder pain, go straight to the warning signs.
If your shoulder hurts, our yoga for shoulder pain guide comes first. The NHS says to keep using a sore shoulder, but "do not make up your own strenuous exercises or use heavy gym equipment", and gradually strengthening the rotator cuff and shoulder-blade muscles is the mainstay for most shoulder pain.
A working rotator cuff, shoulder blades that steady and turn, weight on your hands built up in steps, and reach overhead and behind. Yoga can train all four: in a lab study, locust with the arms reaching forward worked the muscles between and below the shoulder blades hardest of 15 poses.
In office workers with neck pain, the tops of the shoulders were measurably stiffer. In trials, strengthening eased desk neck and shoulder aches, stretching helped too, and yoga worked about as well as stretching.
In older adults, yoga improved arm strength and reach behind the back about as much as a stretching and strengthening programme, and it eased long-lasting neck pain in small trials, short term. A 2024 review found only limited evidence for shoulder movement itself.
Plank, chaturanga and both dogs put up to about your body weight through your arms. Start at a wall, then with your hands raised, then on your knees. We found no study that measured the load on the shoulder in chaturanga or downward dog.
Shoulder or arm pain with chest pain is a 999 call. New weakness lifting the arm after a fall, or neck pain with pins and needles in an arm, needs help the same day (see below).
The shoulder is a big ball on a small socket, held by the rotator cuff and carried on a shoulder blade that slides and turns on the ribs. Reaching overhead also needs the upper back to straighten. Our shoulder joint page has the anatomy.
In 2,404 Australian adults without shoulder problems, lifting the arm forward fell by about 43 degrees in men and 41 in women from the youngest to the oldest age groups, and turning the arm out fell too, especially in women.
Source 20
Shoulder strength fell with age in every direction measured, in 120 adults aged 20 to 78 and in 256 healthy shoulders.
Sun salutations, warrior I and high lunge take the arms overhead; plank, the dogs, chaturanga and side plank put weight on the hands; binds such as cow face and eagle take the arm to the end of its turn; and headstand, shoulder stand and plough put weight on the head and neck. US health advice is that beginners avoid headstands and shoulder stands, and this page doesn't need them.
In 20 women with yoga experience, locust with the arms forward worked the middle and lower trapezius (the muscles between and below the shoulder blades) hardest of 15 static poses, while warrior II, dancer and reverse tabletop worked them little. In plank variations, taking more weight onto the arms meant more shoulder muscle work. Outside yoga, face-down raises with the arm overhead and turning the arm out lying on your side suit the same muscles. These lab studies measured muscle activity in healthy people, not changes over time.
A shoulder blade that moves unusually is common in shoulder injuries, but a 2013 consensus says its exact role in causing them "is not clearly defined". In 419 athletes without symptoms, it went with a higher chance of shoulder pain later (35% against 25%).
Female office workers with neck pain had 11% stiffer upper trapezius muscles (the tops of the shoulders) than colleagues without pain, and in 88 office workers stiffness went with more neck disability. Neither study shows the muscle is short or which came first. Six months of yoga went with less trapezius stiffness in 81 healthy women, in a study that wasn't randomised.
In 48 women with neck and shoulder muscle pain in mostly computer jobs, 10 weeks of specific neck and shoulder strength training cut their worst pain by about 79%, while cycling gave only a small, short-lived drop. Reviews of office workers find strengthening helps, at low certainty.
In 96 office workers with long-term neck pain, neck and shoulder stretching twice a day, 5 days a week for 4 weeks, eased pain by 1.4 points out of 10 more than ergonomic advice alone.
Source 29
In 150 office workers with mild to moderate neck or shoulder pain, a 30-minute hatha class once a week for 4 weeks, with practice at home, was "tentatively found to be non-inferior to stretching exercise". Muscle aches and tension were the commonest side effects. In 80 office workers, yoga, a Thai exercise programme and stretching helped equally.
In 3 trials (188 people), yoga eased neck pain and disability more than usual care in the short term, and a review of 10 trials (686 people) drew "a very cautious conclusion" that it eases pain and improves neck movement. The trials are small, mostly from one German group and not blinded. In one, people who kept practising did best a year on. Our yoga for neck pain guide has the detail.
Across 40 trials, yoga, Pilates, tai chi and qigong as a group did about as well as strengthening and neck control exercises, at very low certainty; the authors concluded "There is not one superior type of physical exercise for people with chronic non-specific neck pain." Yoga is a reasonable choice, not the best one.
People with and without shoulder pain have similar upper-back rounding, though the arm lifts further while you sit tall. Across 23 trials, strengthening improved upper-back and neck posture and stretching didn't. Our yoga for rounded shoulders guide covers posture.
Most trials are small, short and unblinded, and few were about shoulders alone. We say where the evidence is thin.
In 118 sedentary adults averaging 62, 8 weeks of hatha yoga improved arm curls and the back scratch test (reaching one hand down behind your neck and the other up your back) as much as a stretching and strengthening programme. In 39 adults over 60, Thai yoga improved reach behind the back by 2 cm and arm curls against a control group.
Yoga raised upper-limb strength (an effect size of 0.65 across 5 studies, with results that varied a lot). For upper-body flexibility, the abstract calls the effect not significant, but the review's own table gives a small effect (0.25) whose range stays above zero. It's a single-author review, so treat both numbers with care.
Source 12
In 173 adults about 52 in Hong Kong, 12 weekly hatha classes with practice at home improved the push-up test against a waiting list, in a trial that wasn't randomised. A small study of 10 young adults with no comparison group found arm strength gains of 19% to 31%.
In 42 sedentary young women, once-weekly yoga based on sun salutations didn't raise shoulder strength over 8 weeks, while stabilisation training did. Strength comes from poses hard enough to tire you, made harder over the weeks.
Source 43
A 2024 review of 8 studies found only limited evidence that yoga improves shoulder movement. Pooled Thai yoga trials found shoulder extension 1.5 degrees better at 8 weeks, a tiny change; a year of hatha yoga improved whole-body flexibility more than calisthenics in 66 older adults, in a study that doesn't describe random allocation; and sauna yoga didn't change shoulder flexibility in 23 older adults.
Upper-body stretching raised shoulder range 33% more than control in 48 women about 75. Across 11 trials, strength training improved range of movement as much as stretching, and across 55 studies, resistance training with a load improved it, though not with body weight alone. So the strong poses and a band count toward mobility too.
In 444 women, 12 weeks of yoga improved shoulder turning and one reach-behind-the-back test more than an exercise DVD, at every check to 12 months. Start only with your breast team's go-ahead; our yoga for breast cancer guide covers it.
Source 50
In 102 people with long-standing impingement pain, specific rotator cuff and shoulder-blade exercises worked better than general exercise and fewer chose surgery. In 708 adults with rotator cuff disorders, up to 6 physiotherapy sessions of progressive exercise did no better than one session of good advice with a home programme. Our yoga for shoulder pain guide owns this.
Our searches found no study that measured the load on the shoulder in chaturanga or downward dog. Two lab studies measured shoulder muscle activity in yoga poses: 15 static poses in 20 women (we could read only the summary, which doesn't list them all) and wheel and forearm stand in 24 young women.
In 20 adults, plank, chaturanga, both dogs and dolphin put a peak of 0.71 to 1.08 times body weight through the two arms together, and side plank about two-thirds of body weight through one arm. The authors note "the upper extremities are not designed to absorb weight as are the lower extremities."
Source 15
In 23 adults, push-ups with the hands raised or from the knees put less force through the hands than standard push-ups, and push-ups with the feet raised put more. More weight on the arms in plank variations also meant more shoulder muscle work.
Our editorial order, the same as our yoga for shoulder pain guide's: wall push-ups, then hands on a table or chair seat, then knees down on the floor, then a full plank and downward dog, then chaturanga. Move on when the step before feels easy. We found no study of the load on the shoulder in these poses, so this order is expert opinion built from the push-up studies.
Source 17
Lower with your knees down at first and only until your shoulders are level with your elbows, as our yoga for arms class teaches. In flowing classes, sun salutations take your arms overhead and back down in every round, so do fewer rounds and step back rather than jumping (our suggestion).
Our editorial order, following our yoga for shoulder pain guide and the push-up studies; the doses come from our yoga for shoulder pain class (wall push-ups, the knee plank) and our yoga for arms class (the rest). Stop if you feel a pinch at the front or top of the shoulder, and go back a step.
See the movement on the 3D figure: Straight-arm plank (high plank)
The NHS asks adults to do strengthening activities that work all the major muscle groups, including the shoulders and arms, on at least 2 days a week. The trials used one to three classes a week for 4 to 12 weeks. Our editorial starting point: the strengthening poses 2 or 3 times a week, with gentle range work on other days if you like, for 8 to 12 weeks before you judge it.
Longer holds, a firmer band, the next step on the ladder, then planks and chaturanga from your toes (our editorial starting point). For bigger strength gains, add pressing and rowing with weights; our guide to strengthening your shoulders has a plan.
Source 49
Breath reach: "5 breaths, exhale longer than inhale" (the move page's dose), arms only as high as is comfortable. Shoulder rolls: "10 to 15 slow circles each way" (from the move page's dose). Cat-cow: "8 waves, slower than feels natural" (the move page's dose), fists if your wrists complain. Thread the needle: "Hold 30 to 60 seconds, about 5 to 10 slow breaths, each side, 2 rounds" (from the move page's dose), easing off if it presses into the shoulder you're lying on. Thoracic rotation: "6 rotations per side, moving with the breath" (the move page's dose). Open book: "8 to 10 slow openings each side, pausing 2 seconds at the end" (from the move page's dose), top arm low if your shoulder feels loose or pinches.
Locust: 2 holds of 5 breaths, arms reaching forward a little off the floor (our yoga for swimmers class), or arms by your sides first. Sphinx: 2 holds of 20 to 30 seconds, skipping it if arching hurts your back (our yoga for swimmers class). Low cobra: 5 lifts, held 3 to 5 seconds, lifting with your back, not your arms (our yoga for posture class). Y-T-W raises: 1 round of 8 of each letter; wall angels: 8 slow slides, a small range is fine (our yoga for swimmers class).
Standing band external rotation: 2 sets of 10 to 15, light band, elbow at your side (our yoga for shoulder pain class). Band row: "3 sets of 10 to 15, stopping 2 to 3 reps short of failure, with 60 to 90 seconds' rest" (from the move page's dose), or 2 sets of 10 to 15 as in our yoga for arms class. Band pull-apart: 15 reps, a light band (our upper back routine). Check the band and anchor first, never a door handle.
Wall push-up: 2 sets of 10 (our yoga for shoulder pain class). Incline push-up: 2 sets of 8 to 12, hands on a table or chair seat (our yoga for arms class). Push-up plus on a bench or at a wall: 2 to 3 sets of 10 (our editorial starting point, as on our yoga for rounded shoulders guide). Knee plank: 3 holds of 10 to 20 seconds (our yoga for shoulder pain class). High plank: 3 holds of 15 to 30 seconds; downward dog: 3 holds of 5 breaths, knees bent (our yoga for arms class). Knee side plank: 2 holds of 15 to 20 seconds each side (our yoga for swimmers class), then side plank: 2 holds of 15 to 30 seconds each side (our yoga for arms class). Chaturanga last: 3 to 5 slow lowers, knees down at first (our yoga for arms class).
3D demoWall push-upBeginner · A wall
3D demoIncline push-upBeginner · A bench or box
3D demoScapular push-up (push-up plus)Beginner · No equipment
3D demoKnee plankBeginner · No equipment
3D demoStraight-arm plank (high plank)Intermediate · No equipment
3D demoDownward-facing dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana)Beginner · No equipment
3D demoKnee side plankBeginner · No equipment
3D demoSide plankIntermediate · No equipment
3D demoFour-limbed staff pose (Chaturanga Dandasana)Advanced · No equipmentFor comfort and range; stretching alone doesn't change posture. Warrior II: 5 breaths each side, arms at shoulder height, shoulders down (our yoga for arms class). Extended puppy pose: 3 to 5 slow breaths, walking your hands back if your lower back sags; it's head-down, so keep it short with glaucoma (our editorial starting point, as on our yoga for rounded shoulders guide). Overhead triceps stretch: "Hold 15 to 30 seconds, 2 to 4 times each side" (from the move page's dose), moving the elbow, not your head. Doorway chest opener: 3 holds of 30 seconds each side, elbow at shoulder height, starting low after a past dislocation (our editorial starting point, as on our yoga for rounded shoulders guide).
Chin tuck: 5 holds of 5 seconds, sliding your chin straight back (our yoga for neck pain class). Upper trap release: "2 slow holds of 30 seconds per side" (the move page's dose); let the weight of your head do the stretch, and don't pull with your hand (our yoga for neck pain class). Neck movements: "3 slow circles each way, once or twice a day" (from the move page's dose); with a sore neck, separate nods, tilts and turns instead, as the page says, and stop if they make you dizzy.
Slow breathing: 2 minutes, in for about 4 and out for about 6, no holds (our yoga for swimmers class). Child's pose: 1 minute, arms long in front or by your sides (our yoga for arms class). Corpse pose: 2 to 3 minutes (our editorial starting point; our yoga for swimmers class uses 3).
Headstand, shoulder stand and plough put weight on the head and neck, aren't needed for shoulder strength or range, and carry glaucoma, blood pressure and bone cautions. Headstand is the pose most often blamed in published case reports of harm. This page leaves them out (our suggestion).
Forearm stand and handstand load the shoulders overhead while upside down; our how-to guides cover them as skills. They aren't part of this page's plan (our suggestion).
Cow face, eagle arms and humble warrior take the arm to the end of its turn: hold a strap or your elbows, and leave the bind out while a shoulder is sore, as their move pages say.
Clear dolphin with a clinician first if you have impingement or a recent rotator cuff problem, as its move page says. Skip wheel and upward plank if the front of your shoulder hurts (our yoga for arms class).
Keep your arm in front of you, avoid taking it out to the side and turning it back, and stop if it feels about to slip, as our yoga for shoulder pain guide advises.
Keep stretches mild and in the middle of your range, and favour the strengthening moves: the NHS says not to overextend your joints just because you can.
Source 54
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 lighter band or weight or a smaller range next time, not nothing.
Source 2
The plank moves' pages say: "With heart disease, keep breathing and ask your cardiac team before long holds; with heart failure, avoid planks." After heart surgery through the breastbone, follow your surgeon's advice before pushing or lifting with your arms.
Fists or forearms in plank and the dogs if your wrists complain. With glaucoma or high blood pressure that isn't under control, keep downward dog brief or use the wall version. With osteoporosis, the class has no deep rounding. Later in pregnancy, swap the face-down lifts for all-fours moves such as bird dog.
In 94 trials, yoga was as safe as usual care or other exercise. In surveys of practitioners, about 2% had a serious problem, and most injuries were sprains and strains.
Tears of the supraspinatus (a rotator cuff tendon) and the shoulder's cartilage rim were among the yoga injuries seen on scans in 38 patients, and 6 of 89 people treated for yoga injuries at one clinic had rotator cuff injuries. These series show it can happen, not how often.
In the US, emergency visits for yoga injuries were 57.9 per 100,000 practitioners at 65 and over, against 11.9 at 18 to 44. US health advice is that older adults may need to be particularly cautious and that beginners should learn with a qualified teacher.
In a small series, all 15 yoga practitioners were back to yoga within a year of a shoulder replacement. Follow your surgeon's limits and build up weight on the arm gradually.
Source 60
Our 25-minute shoulders class covers the shoulder blades, the rotator cuff, weight on your hands in steps and reach overhead; no trial has tested the class itself. If your shoulder hurts, use the shoulder pain class instead. The arms, swimmers and posture classes go further on one part, and the neck and desk routines suit a working day.
A 25-minute yoga class for your shoulders: shoulder-blade lifts, band work for the rotator cuff, plank and downward dog built up in steps, and reach overhead.
25 minBeginner17 movesWall, bandA 20-minute yoga sequence for shoulder pain: gentle movement, standing poses with the arms low, shoulder strength, and weight on the arms built up from the wall.
20 minBeginner16 movesBench or box, wallTwenty minutes of yoga for your arms and shoulders: a wrist warm-up, a stepped build-up to plank and slow lowering, side plank, a band row and stretches.
20 minBeginner15 movesBench or box, bandA 25-minute dryland yoga class for swimmers: upper-back turns, shoulder-blade and trunk holds, hips for kicking and slow breathing, safe for loose shoulders.
25 minBeginner16 movesWallTwenty-five minutes of back-strengthening yoga for posture: arm and leg reaches, face-down back lifts and standing poses with the arms raised.
25 minBeginner15 movesNo equipmentTwenty minutes of slow breathing, small neck movements, poses that keep your head supported or level, and upper-back strength, with nothing that loads the neck.
20 minBeginner14 movesStepTen minutes of yoga at your desk, no mat needed: slow breathing, neck, shoulder, wrist and spine moves in your chair, then standing poses with a hand on the desk.
10 minBeginner13 movesBench or box, wallDeep neck holds and shoulder-blade strength in under 20 minutes: one of the best-supported kinds of exercise for a stiff, sore neck.
18 minBeginner11 movesBand, anchor pointA 25-minute band routine for healthy shoulders: move the shoulder and upper back through their range, then strengthen the rotator cuff and shoulder blades.
25 minBeginner12 movesWall, bandA 12-minute routine for a stiff upper back and rounded shoulders: chin tucks, wall angels, Y-T-W raises and open books.
12 minBeginner8 movesFoam roller, wallA 25-minute Pilates class for healthy shoulders: the shoulder blades face down, a light band for the rotator cuff, weight on your hands in steps, and reach.
25 minBeginner20 movesBand, anchor pointStiffness that eases as you move is usually nothing to worry about. These are the warning signs from our shoulder pain, neck pain and yoga guides, word for word. This is general information, not a diagnosis. A&E means accident and emergency; in the US, call 911 for 999.
Get help from NHS 111: pain or tightness in your chest, neck, shoulders, jaw or arms that comes and goes, often brought on by exercise, stress, emotion or cold and easing after a few minutes' rest. It can be angina, a sign of a heart problem. If you've been diagnosed with angina, get help from NHS 111 too if it feels worse than before, is happening more often, lasts longer or happens when you're resting.
Source 61
Source 1
Source 19
Stop if neck circles bring on dizziness, light-headedness or tingling into an arm. Make the movement smaller, with separate turns and nods, and see a GP if it keeps happening. Our neck pain guide has more.
Call 999 if:
Call 999 or go to A&E (accident and emergency) straight away for severe difficulty breathing (gasping, choking or not able to get words out), a chest that feels tight or heavy, pain that spreads to your arms, back, neck and jaw, lips or skin turning very pale, blue or grey, or sudden confusion. If you're more short of breath than usual, or your heart is racing, fluttering or skipping beats, contact NHS 111.
Source 65
A joint pain that is sharp, gets worse during a session, lingers into the next day or changes how you move is a reason to use an easier version, and to see a GP or physiotherapist if it keeps happening (the rule in our plans). Muscle soreness for a day or two after something new is normal. In a hot class, stop if you feel dizzy, sick or unwell; our hot yoga guide lists the signs of heat illness.
You can say no to any hands-on adjustment, and a teacher registered with Yoga Alliance must get your explicit consent each time.
With glaucoma, or high blood pressure that isn't under control, skip headstands, shoulder stands and long head-down holds. With osteoporosis, swap deep forward folds for a flat-back hinge from the hips, and twist smoothly. In pregnancy, our yoga in pregnancy guide covers the changes. NCCIH advises beginners to avoid headstands, shoulder stands, the lotus position and forceful breathing.
The NHS advises getting advice from a healthcare professional first if you have a health problem, an injury or symptoms, or have recently had a heart attack or an operation.
The tops of the shoulders are measurably stiffer in people with neck pain, not shown to be short. Specific strengthening cut office workers' worst trapezius pain by about 79% in one trial, and reviews favour it. Stretching helps too, so do both.
In older adults, yoga raised upper-limb strength and arm curls as much as stretching and strengthening, and hatha classes raised push-ups in middle-aged adults. But once-weekly gentle flows didn't raise shoulder strength in young women: it depends on the poses and on making them harder over time.
Strength training improved range of movement as much as stretching across 11 trials, and resistance training with a load raised it across 55 studies.
Stretching programmes didn't change posture across 23 trials; strengthening did. Our yoga for rounded shoulders guide has the detail.
Source 39
Upper-back rounding doesn't differ between people with and without shoulder pain.
Source 38
We found no study that measured the load on the shoulder in either. They put up to about body weight through your arms, so build up in steps from the wall. Serious yoga injuries are uncommon.
They load the head and neck, aren't needed for shoulder strength or range, and headstand is the pose most often blamed in published case reports of harm. US health advice is that beginners avoid them.
Across 40 trials no single type of exercise was best: yoga, strengthening and neck control exercises did about as well as each other, at very low certainty.
Yes, as a way to keep them moving and build some strength. In older adults, yoga improved arm strength and reach behind the back about as much as a stretching and strengthening programme. Strength work with a band or weights adds more.
Back lifts such as locust with the arms reaching forward, which worked the muscles between and below the shoulder blades hardest of 15 poses in a lab study, plus thread the needle, the upper trap release and wall angels for range. Tight shoulders have been measured as stiffer, not shorter, so pair the stretches with strengthening.
For long-lasting neck pain, yoga eased pain and disability more than usual care in small trials, in the short term, and in office workers it worked about as well as stretching. Neck pain that spreads into an arm with pins and needles or weakness needs checking the same day.
It can, especially if you're new to exercise: plank, downward dog, side plank and slow lowering put up to about your body weight through your arms. Gentle once-weekly flows may not be enough, so make the poses harder over the weeks or add a band.
Start at a wall, then with your hands on a table, then on your knees, then the full pose: raising your hands or dropping your knees cuts the force through your arms. Move on when each step feels easy.
We found no study that measured the load on the shoulder in chaturanga. Lower with your knees down at first, only until your shoulders are level with your elbows, and leave it out while a shoulder is sore.
Both. Specific strengthening cut office workers' neck and shoulder pain by about 79% in one trial, stretching twice a day eased neck pain in another, and strength training improves range of movement about as much as stretching.
Two or three times a week for the strengthening poses, as in the trials, with gentle range work on other days if you like. Give it 8 to 12 weeks before you judge it.
It mainly loads the neck and upper back and isn't needed for shoulder strength or range, and US health advice is that beginners avoid it. Skip it with glaucoma, high blood pressure that isn't under control or osteoporosis.
Use an easier version, and see a GP or physiotherapist if it keeps happening. Most shoulder pain settles, and the NHS says to keep using the arm. Our yoga for shoulder pain guide has the plan, and chest pain with arm pain is a 999 call.
Yes: in 2,404 adults without shoulder problems, lifting the arm forward fell by about 40 degrees from the youngest to the oldest groups, and strength falls too. Training helps at any age: upper-body stretching raised shoulder range by a third in women about 75.
No yoga trial has tested it. Across 23 trials, strengthening changed upper-back posture and stretching didn't, so favour the back lifts. Our yoga for rounded shoulders guide has the detail.
Exercise education, not a personal prescription, and clinical review of these guides is pending. If you are pregnant, have a health condition such as glaucoma, high blood pressure or osteoporosis, or have had recent surgery, check with a doctor, midwife or physiotherapist before starting, and stop for sharp or increasing pain. Health disclaimer.
