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Chronic Injury and Yoga
Rehabilitation
Sam Dworkis
Because many of us were brought up
believing in the saying “no pain, no gain,” most of us, at some time or
another, will experience a yoga injury. After all, when we were in school,
our coaches and peers encouraged, and often demanded, that we give our
athletic pursuits our very best effort, even when injured.
Many of us have transferred that concept right into our yoga practice. In
addition, there are many approaches to yoga whose teachers encourage their
students to “push their edges.”
Yet, even if we practice non aggressive yoga, it is normal that muscle
soreness will follow; for it is simply the natural breaking down of muscle
tissue and its rebuilding that promotes strength and flexibility, and
enhances performance.
However, there is a point where pushing ourselves goes beyond normal
enhanced performance and enters the realm of chronic injury. There is a
clear difference between “day after pain” following a hard asana practice
versus acute pain following an injury. Specifically, ‘’day after pain’’
usually diminishes in a day or two. However, if pain persists, you might
have a condition where tissue has been so traumatized that it is replaced by
scar tissue. Then mobility decreases and pain increases which is,
thankfully, responsive to rehabilitative yoga.
Injuries are supposed to be painful, because pain is the body’s way of
telling you there is a problem that needs to be addressed. Ignoring this
message often creates chronic injury, which becomes more common as we age.
Trying to work through pain often exacerbates what might have been a minor
injury and often creates additional unwanted fascia adhesions (scarring)
along with stressed and atrophied soft tissue.
When chronically injured, many structures away from a primary injury also
become affected; including surrounding muscles, tendons, ligaments, joint
capsules, and especially, the fascia, which when chronically
contracted, becomes a primary cause of chronic overall pain, weakness, and
loss of flexibility.
When applied to the healing process, yoga therapy is a non-painful and an
extremely effective rehabilitative tool. When appropriately practiced, it
works on the level of fascia, which serves to rebuild strength and
endurance, and to restore and maintain flexibility; both during and after
the therapeutic process.
This article was written by Sam
Dworkis, author of ExTension Yoga and Recovery Yoga Books available on the
right. We thank Sam Dworkis, writer and yoga teacher. See his site at
www.extensionyoga.com
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