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Hi can anyone help- or even empathise!

I do afew yoga classes a week, I have been doing this spate of yoga for 5 months now (I have done yoga on and off for years) and everytime I do a head or handstand I end up with pain in my upper back- inbetween the bottom of my shoulder blades, if anything to one side or the other rather then dead centre.

I have no issues with shoulder stands or infact any other pose (aside from the usualy sore writsts etc gripes that all us beginners have) just head or handstand.

I think it could be with comming down rather then going up, as I can feel something pull somewhere when I come out of the pose but I come down so slowly, I dont know whats doing it!

anyone else have anything similar?

thanx, from jennie

Hi Jennie.
Both head and handstand require a great strength of the upper back muscles. If the strength is not sufficient, attempting to do the final version of these poses might hurt.
I would suggest to do preparatory stages of both head and hand stands for a while (not coming all the way up, practicing the dolphin pose as a preparation for headstand, asking your teacher to assist you with these two poses if you do want to come all the way up) to build more strength in your upper back.
I believe there is no point pushing yourself behind your limits if you know it will hurt. It all needs time and you will definitely be able to do the final versions of the poses later without pain.
Hope it helps and all the best!!

Hi Jennie, thanks for sharing this with us. I'd suggest that you should tell your teacher what is happening and ask their advice. Headstand is an advanced pose and if you do it wrong you can seriously injure yourself. I fell badly in headstand and pulled all the muscles in my right shoulder and shoulder blade, it took many months to get over it and even now (some 2 years later) it still twinges. It's good that you're coming down slowly but sounds like your alignment needs checking.