Struggling With Downward Dog? Here’s What Your Body’s Trying to Tell You

Pretty much anyone who's gone to a yoga class has done Downward Facing Dog. Even if you're not a yogi, you've likely performed this popular posture — or asana — during a dynamic warmup or a post-workout cooldown. That's because this classic yoga pose provides so many mind and body benefits.

While this beginner pose may seem straightforward, it can be quite difficult to perfect, as it involves total-body coordination. That may explain if you have problems nailing the proper form.

Here, Webb and Gillian Walker, yoga instructor, share some common issues you may run into with Downward Facing Dog and offer tips to help make it more safe, effective, and comfortable for your body.

Tight Calves

Tight calves pull on the Achilles tendon and limit ankle flexion, making it difficult for your heels to reach the ground in Downward Facing Dog, Webb says.

What's more, you may be compensating for tight calves by walking your hands closer to your feet to help your heels touch the ground. But “this short stance causes spinal flexion and compression in the front of the body, leading to a rounded spine” and possibly strain on your back, Webb says.

Plus, “tight calves will cause your shoulders and wrists to hold most of your weight,” Walker says.

How to Fix It

“If you have tight calves, bend the knees in down dog or use blocks under your hands to help even out the weight distribution,” Walker says.

You can also incorporate foam rolling and calf stretches to help resolve the tightness in your calf muscles, Webb says. Try doing a seated forward fold with a block at the soles of your feet. Wrap a strap around the block and pull it toward you for a deep calf stretch.

Lack of Shoulder Mobility

If you sit slumped over a laptop all day, odds are you have tight shoulders. And this shoulder tension tends to put a damper on Downward Facing Dog.

“Shoulder issues will cause pain and discomfort in Down Dog,” Walker says.

And if your lack of mobility isn't due to a specific injury, it's likely linked to tight chest muscles, she says. That's because when you sit most of the day, you often round your back and scrunch your shoulders. When this happens, the front of your body — including your chest — and your back relaxes and weakens.

How to Fix It

“If you have shoulder mobility issues, do not push yourself in down dog,” Walker says.

Instead, modify the pose. Webb recommends incorporating yoga blocks by positioning each hand on a block.

You can also experiment with placing your hands on a wall or a chair instead of the floor, she says. Stand a leg’s length away from the wall, place your hands on the wall as high as your hips, then push your hands into the wall and bring your back parallel to the ground.

In addition, you can perform exercises that strengthen your shoulders and stretches that open up your chest, Walker says, like child's pose or bench prayer stretch, in which you kneel on the floor, place your elbows on a low bench, and sink your torso toward the floor.

Tight Hamstrings

A mostly sedentary lifestyle can also be the source of stiff hamstrings, which can hamper your down dog.

“Just like tight calves, tight hamstrings will cause you to dump most of your weight into your upper body,” Walker says. And stiff hamstrings hinder your form in other ways. Specifically, they tug on the sit bones and cause the back to round, Webb says.

How to Fix It

Walker recommends practicing poses and stretches that will lengthen the hamstrings such as janusirsasana (head-to-knee pose), uttanasana (standing forward fold), and padahastasana (hand-under-foot pose).

You can also try bending your knees in Downward Facing Dog. This “will allow the pelvis to tilt more, therefore allowing the spine to lengthen,” Webb says.

Weak Upper-Body Muscles

“A weak upper body will cause down dog to feel like anything but the resting posture that it is,” Walker says.

“You'll probably compensate by scrunching your shoulders up near your ears,” Webb says. But this can result in a domino effect of other problems. If you have weakness or instability in the shoulders, this can then lead to abnormal pressure and pain in the wrists, Webb says.

How to Fix It

“Some of the fastest ways to strengthen the upper body are pull-ups and push-ups,” says Walker, noting you may need to modify these exercises until you’ve built enough strength. For example, you can do incline push-ups against a wall and eccentric pull-ups — in which you start at the top of the pull-up and slowly lower yourself down — to make those moves easier.

Similarly, strengthening your core — with exercises like dead bugs, glute bridges and planks — will help you shift weight away from your shoulders in the pose, Webb says.

You can also work on your form in Downward Facing Dog: Draw your shoulders away from your ears, double check that the insides of your elbows are facing their opposite corners on the mat and broaden through the collarbones and chest, Webb says.

Inflexible or Weak Wrists

“Weak wrists can make it difficult to properly distribute the weight of the upper body in Downward Dog,” Webb says. What's worse, “weak and inflexible wrists will cause down dog to be a painful experience,” Walker says.

How to Fix It

Walker recommends using yoga blocks under your hands to help balance the weight and take the pressure off the wrists. You can achieve the same effect by using a foam wedge under your hands or rolling up another yoga mat, blanket, or towel and placing your hands on it.

“This decreases the angle of extension at your wrist and can make the pose easier,” Webb says.

Make sure to spread your fingers wide and press into the thumb and index finger. This will shift the weight from your wrists, outer hands, and arms and into the upper back, where much larger, stronger muscles can better handle the load, Webb says.

Limited Ankle Mobility

“Limited ankle mobility makes it difficult for the heels to go down toward the floor in Downward Dog, which can have an effect all the way up the back body to the spine,” Webb says. And much like tight calves and hamstrings, weak, stiff ankles will unevenly load the weight onto the upper body, Walker says.

How to Fix It

“One of the best yoga postures for helping ankle flexibility is hero pose [a kneeling pose that extends the fronts of the ankles],” Walker says. “Start with as many blocks as you need under your seat, and slowly work your way down.”

You can also modify Downward Facing Dog to make it more comfortable. Webb recommends folding or rolling a blanket and placing it under your heels. “As you do the pose, push your heels down into the blanket toward the ground,” she says.

Not Actively Engaging Your Muscles

While Downward Facing Dog is supposed to be a chill, resting pose, that doesn't mean you should just hang there. If you don't actively contract your muscles, there's less balance in the distribution of your body weight, Webb says. When this happens, your form suffers, which can lead to discomfort.

How to Fix It

Be present in the pose. “Focus on rotating the shoulders and spreading the fingers wide, reach the heels toward the floor and actively concentrate on finding full body balance in the posture,” Walker says.

The Takeaway

• If you're struggling with Downward Facing Dog, try modifying the pose by using props such as yoga blocks under your hands to help with weight distribution and ease discomfort in areas like wrists or shoulders.
• Engaging in targeted flexibility and strength exercises, like seated forward folds for tight calves and push-ups for weak upper-body muscles, can enhance your form and comfort in this common yoga pose.
• It’s important to be mindful of any discomfort or pain while practicing Downward Facing Dog, as forcing your body beyond its capacity might lead to injury. Consider consulting with a yoga instructor or physical therapist for personalized advice.