A Chiropractor's Guide to Yoga

I just read an interesting article in Dynamic Chiropractic, A Chiropractor's Guide to Yoga, by Jasper Sidhu, BSc, DC. 

Here are some excerpts from his article, about specific benefits of Yoga for Musculoskeletal Complaints, according to several studies.

Low Back Pain: A systematic review by Crow, et al. (2015), found there was strong evidence for the short-term effectiveness for yoga.

Muscle Activation: If your patients require core muscle activation and are participating in yoga, a recent study by Ni M, et. al. (2014), sheds some light on muscle function during various poses. "High plank," "low plank" and "downward facing dog" were effective for strengthening the external oblique abdominis. "Chair" and "warrior 1" poses were useful for the gluteus maximus, and chair and "halfway lift" poses were effective for strengthening the longissimus thoracis. The "upward facing dog" pose can be used to strengthen all three muscles.

Arthritis: Although the average yoga user is younger than older, yoga may be beneficial for those with arthritis. A recent study by Moonaz SH, et al. (2015), assessed integral-based hatha yoga in sedentary people with arthritis. Preliminary evidence suggested yoga can be practiced safely and improves physical and psychological health, including health-related quality of life. Ghasemi GA, et al. (2013), also found yoga significantly reduced pain and symptoms in a group of women with osteoarthritis.

Which yoga exercises provide the best muscle activation for knee strengthening in patients with osteoarthritis? Longpre HS, et al. (2015), assessed various yoga postures, finding quadriceps activation was highest during the squat and lunge postures, producing more co-contraction indices than other postures. The wide-legged squat ("goddess") and lunge with trunk upright ("warrior") poses produced the lowest knee adduction moments, which may benefit those with knee osteoarthritis.

Flexibility: For flexibility training, yoga was shown to be more effective than calisthenics. Farinatti PT, et al. (2014), used hatha yoga for the study, which features slow, passive movements.

Spinal flexibility is also shown to improve with yoga use. Grabara M, et al. (2015), assessed the effects of hatha yoga for women older than age 50. Results demonstrated not only increased hamstring flexibility, but also overall spinal flexibility.

My favorite place to get all those yoga benefits, Bodhi Yoga in Provo! 

Yoga adds Fun to Life

My last post was about how we did yoga everyday during our week in Lake Powell. The days were also filled with skiing, wakeboarding, tubing, surfing, hiking, swiming, paddle board, kayaks, relaxing, etc.

My husband and sons are big into all the water sports:

My son Jason

Me, not so much. In years past I have skied once or twice, than usually been too sore to do much more than happily relax and enjoy the water and sun the rest of the week.  This year my son, Skyler, taught me to wakeboard and I got up on the board every day, sometimes more than once! How was this possible? What made the difference? Maybe I'm finally old enough?  Ha ha, I doubt that!

The only real difference is YOGA!

Because of the Yoga Teacher Training I have been involved with all year, I have done yoga almost every day. I didn't realize how much difference it had made, until I shocked my family and surprised myself by not only asking to learn to wakeboard, but being able to stay with it until I got up!  I am so much stronger, and I have more stamina and flexibility.

I am truly amazed. I love yoga for it's own sake, and now even more for all this new fun it is allowing me to add to my life. Thank you Syl Carson at Bodhi Yoga! 

No tricks for me...yet. 

Yoga At Lake Powell

Various interpretations of my Yoga "suggestions"

Corey and Linken

In August, we spent a week at Lake Powell, like we have each summer for more than 30 years. It was wonderful, as usual.

Many times previously, I took time to practice yoga, and occasionally some family member would join me. This year we did yoga everyday, sometimes twice a day! It was so fun in our beautiful surroundings, and  it helped us be less sore and more ready for all the water activities.

Thank you Bodhi Yoga for the training. We did Vinyasa Bodhi Flow, Restorative, Prenatal and even some one on one work, addressing specific concerns.

I especially love how Linken and Kennedy joined in the fun! Here are some photos.

A little Tai Chi

Look at this little angel! 

A real "Happy Baby"

Beautiful April

Savasana...of sorts