By: Dr. Joseph DuChene DC, Chiropractor

I first want to say, I don’t do yoga. I first tried doing yoga when in Chiropractic College. I was motivated to do something to increase my health and yoga is always on a top 10 list of things to do to get a little more health into my life.

Well, I received a small back injury my first couple weeks into the program. It was not anything serious. But, it was enough to curb my enthusiasm and prevent me from adopting a regular yoga routine or searching out further instruction. Looking back I feel that I had a really big lost opportunity to improve my health, mostly because I did not want to get hurt again.

Let’s fast forward to today. In my chiropractic office, I see a good amount of people who have small injuries from their yoga practice. I play an extremely important role in getting people back into their yoga practice and helping them understand what is causing some of their pain and problems.

So, where does pain actually come from? Most of the pain people experience is from the joints, soft tissue and nerves. The nerves tell the muscles what to do and the joint facilitates the movement. Pain comes in when there is a breakdown in the communication or ability to perform a specific movement. The breakdown comes in differently with a beginner vs. an advanced practitioner.

We will focus on a beginning yoga student.

As a beginner, I find many people want to get right into yoga because it will loosen their joints, it can help stretch muscles, help with pain or keep them active and mobile. It definitely can.

Here are some basic things you can find with a beginning yoga student that are common place for injury.

What are some common pitfalls that you can find with a beginner?

• Not enough rest: Yoga is a pretty unassuming activity but very demanding on the body, especially if you are under conditioned. Our body heals when we rest. Listen to your body.
• Having a no pain no gain attitude. Many people feel that they have to push past the pain to get a result. There is a big difference between the burn of working a muscle out to build the body and the pain of straining a muscle or joint, tearing the body down.
• Not paying attention to posture. Everything from your shoulder, elbow to even your little finger has a place in your yoga practice. Posture can come in the form of improper instruction. What I am most interested in is the ability to hold good posture or good pose. Once you reach a point where you cannot hold a good pose, your body is done stabilizing and that is a good sign to rest.

What are some steps you can do to keep yourself pain free?

• Talk with your instructor about any pain you experience. I always ask any of my athletes in pain if they have talked with their coach, trainer or instructor about their problem. I find that many of those who have some sort of pain do not talk with their instructor about the pain. Your instructor would be the first person to guide you on any technique problems that could be causing you some pain.
• Warm up! Warming up is the single most important thing you can do to prevent injury, not stretching. Warming up is moving around to increase circulation and mobility of the joints. Stretching will not prevent injury when working out.
• Know your limitations. Working out is about stretching yourself. If you go too much past your limitations too fast then something will break. We all want results yesterday. However, building your health comes one day and one choice at a time. Slow and steady wins the race.

So, how would I manage pain in my yoga practice?

• Please note that the first person to talk to about pain in your yoga practice is your instructor. If you don’t have an instructor, finding an instructor would be a good first step. If a technique change is not helping, or not helping in a reasonable time; then, a medical evaluation of your muscles, nerves and joints would be the next step.
• In most cases, the next step would be conservative care from a chiropractor. Chiropractors work specifically to improve joint function and mobility to improve nervous system function. Your chiropractor would know if they can help you or you need a referral for a doctor.  In most cases, if your chiropractor cannot help the problem, they know who the right medical referral is.

Everyone has a different goal when it comes to yoga. It is anywhere from relaxation, improvement of circulation, overall health to I want to just move better. Knowing how far your body will safely go can keep you in the game for a long time.

Dr. DuChene

http://duchenenaturalhealth.com