So. It seems I have mutant arms.

[CoteDAzur]

My yoga teacher came up to me after practice last week and asked if she could take a photo of my arms. She was apparently worried surprised to see their inner sides when I was in downward dog.

Apparently, I have this condition which is supposed to happen as a result of fractures, excessive baseball throwing while growing up, or as part of visually very obvious genetic conditions like Turner Syndrome and Noonan Syndrome. None of which apply to me. < Born this way >

And so I now know why chaturanga makes my elbows fly out, why I can't do any binds, and why I've only managed to get my head off the floor for a few centimetres after a year of working on full wheel.

I know this is a bit of a stretch but does anyone know such a mutant misshapen person and maybe can tell me about the modifications they do/use in their yoga practice? My teacher took the photos to show her teachers & ask for advice, but I thought I'd ask here, too.

Many thanks in advance

I know it's a bit of a fringe matter but... Anyone?

No idea! but I am wondering if I have it too as I struggle with all those things too!

Gosh that must have been a bit of a shock for you, afraid I don't have any useful advice but I hope your teacher manages to come up with something! What sort of yoga do you do?

I do Vinyasa yoga. My arms have muscled up visibly in the past year that I have been doing yoga, but I still get a bit of muscle pain sometimes in my upper arms near the elbow (mostly during downward dog).

cece - It's easy to check if you have this. When you stick your upper arms to your sides with your hands facing forward, where do your hands point to? Mine stick out to the sides at about a 35% angle.

Where are they supposed to point as mine stick out a bit but not sure it's 35 degrees!

Ah that's what I have I think - basically my forearm are angled outwards, so I basically can't straighten my arms completely - even when "locked out" my elbows look bent. My yoga teacher used to try to correct me all the time in downward dog. One thing that helped me was in poses such as downward dog or warrior 1, where arms are parallel, to put a yoga belt around them to push my elbows in.

I can't do chaturanga at all, or wheel pose, however hard I press with my hands I just don't have the strength! I do wonder if it's my silly elbows.

My arms are like the second figure from the left in this picture.

...mine poke out weirdly too...is this why I cannot do handstands??

i never noticed any weirdness when doing yoga, but it's been years.

Oooh... Mine are like b. too.

Also, my arms are ridiculously short. If I cross my arms in front of me, in length they only just cover my belly button.

Mutants of the world... Unite!

Would you also ask the yoga teachers you know if they have any experience of this sort of thing & which modifications they recommend? Once I have my teacher's reply, I would be interested to compare notes on how best to manage our yoga practice.

I have this, but I also have Ehlers Danlos (hypermobility syndrome), and I think it's related. Are you weirdly bendy, too, OP?

I'm weirdly bendy. Even now at 34 and overweight I can still get my feet behind my head.

I have been teaching & practicing yoga for many years. I have very hyper mobile joints. I can laterally rotate my forearm at the elbow way beyond 180 degrees with my wrist extended, Palm on floor & fingers pointing forward. Medial rotation almost as far.
It is actually very common. I probably have one or two people like this in every class I teach.
I have Hms, so a bit more than just overly mobile joints.
When you are in any asana where you extend your arm at the elbow try to keep the elbows a little soft, don't 'lock out' elbows or hyper extend in any posture, otherwise overtime it will be detrimental on the joint. ( wear & tear, arthritis & tendonitis just for starters)
handstands will be difficult as you will need to stabilise the elbow & bear weight through the joint.
Try and strengthen the supporting muscles as much as possible. Even just simple isotonic exercises can be useful.
Don't let it stop your practice though.
Happy to give you more info if you want.

I'm not hyper mobile - my joints are pretty solidly locked in place.

It's just that my elbows are fixed at an odd angle - "excessive carrying angle of the elbow".

DS has just started physio for a similar problem- again caused by hypermobility. His was picked up by his swimming coach.

He has to do gentle weight lifting- lightest possible dumbbells lifted from waist to elbow in front of him, focus on getting the dumbbell in line with his arms.

He's also weirdly bendy in the hands- I felt sick watching what he can do!