Will practicing yoga on a daily basis help ward off back and articular pains ?

Thèmes abordés

Yoga - asana - posture - muscle balance - joints - habits - stretching - contractions

Résumé du document

Yoga is a traditional form of exercise that combines relaxing, breathing and stretching. This form of exercise is appropriate for people who suffer from painful joints and lack muscle balance. Yoga, which systematically works all the muscles of the body, involves various kinds of stretching poses that constantly alternating between rest and movement. Practicing yoga on a daily basis can improve muscle balance and keep joints supple thereby avoiding pain in joints or muscles

Bad postures usually born out of bad habits exert excessive pressure on the backbone. Muscle tensions which stem from such bad postures can be attributed to back pain which risk spreading to other zones of the body, such as the head, neck, arms, shoulders, and legs. This is why each asana practiced in yoga generally involves at least one part of the backbone. Exercise which involves a slight torsion of the backbone specifically relaxes the deep layers of posterior muscles.

Extraits

[...] How yoga in the daily life helps dealing with back and articular pains? The method which consists of combining exercise of relaxation, breathing and postures, constitutes a program appropriate for all the people whose joints are painful, or who have a lack of muscle balance. Yoga exercise systematically train all the muscles of the body, by alternating stretching poses, rest and movement. When someone feels pain in one's joints or muscles, without having suffered a specific trauma or a brutal change due to exterior factors, practicing yoga in the daily life can highly improve the muscle balance and the good shape of joints. [...]

[...] Yoga practice also increases the production of synovia in the joints, which permits to them. Cartilage, discs and menisca, all of them need balanced movements in order to keep their flexibility and their mobility. This pose permits to stretch the leg in the continuation of the backbone. But as the muscles of the leg are not in the central line of our body as the backbone is, the stretching of the leg and of the backbone is accompanied by a slight twist of our backbone which makes the back muscles work a little more. [...]

[...] If a muscle is only stretched, it's going to stretch and get shorter right after, under the pressure, due to the lack of necessary strength. If a muscle is only strengthened, it loses its flexibility and elasticity, which manifests itself in a reduction of mobility. Strong and flexible muscles represent an important protection for the backbone and joints. That is why the regular practice of yoga exercise reduces the symptoms of trouble in the backbone and joints after just a few weeks. Practicing asanas permits to develop one's range of movements necessary to have muscles, cartilage, ligaments and joints in good health. [...]