Yoga and Joint health, Focusing on Arthritis.

As many of us know too well, there are lots of conditions that affect our joint health, from acute to chronic conditions. All of which can sometimes feel draining and discouraging. So how can yoga help with joints, and is it worth trying?

Yoga helps deal with a wide range of pain, from physical, mental, and emotional, which can all be present when living with a joint condition of injury.

Let’s take a chronic joint condition such as Arthritis as an example.

Unfortunately for people living with Arthritis, they can experience a lot of pain physically due to the immune system attacking the joint and causing painful inflamed swelling. There are many forms of Arthritis and can affect different joints and areas of the body in different ways. But with increased inflammation and swelling around the joints as the picture demonstrates, it increases the chance of reduced range of motion and strength.

Physical health.

How can yoga help with this pain? Well let’s start with the joint pain itself, yoga can help bring movement back to the joints and body, improving flexibility and functions of the joints. During yoga, we also work a lot on balance, which can be a problematic area for individuals with Arthritis and joint conditions. Balancing poses can help build strength around the joint and overall body stability and proprioception of our body’s movement. All these areas can help increase confidence and boost self-esteem.

Mental and emotional health.

Let’s not talk about the mental and emotional benefits of yoga for joint conditions. Due to the pain felt, some may experience feelings of sadness and anxiety. Of course, every individual is unique and will experience slightly different situations. Yoga can teach us about different breathing techniques helping us reduce stress levels in our bodies and nervous systems. Often when in pain the individual will be in the ‘fight or flight mode’ of the sympathetic nervous system. But with the use of breathing and relaxation techniques, we can bring nervous systems into the rest and digest mode, of parasympathetic. This is a helpful tool to learn and be able to bring into daily life when dealing with chronic pain conditions. This can also be great if you experience other related symptoms such as Digestive issues and sleep disorders.

Linking mind to body.

By becoming more linked you our bodies it can help us pinpoint pain and be able to assess and deal with the experience in an effective way. Often an individual will experience a wide range of pain, sometimes due to something called referred pain, but increasing the bodies awareness and proprioception may help learn more about the pain paths. Assisting the individual to relax more and release some pain, in the area.

Energy and Sleep.

Breathing techniques in yoga can also help increase energy levels and sleeping patterns. Often reduced range of motion can have an impact on our breathing patterns. Sometimes meaning we breathe in a restricted manner, mainly into the top part of our chest, rarely expanding onto the low chest, ribs, and abdominal regions. This again can make the bodies nervous system go into the Sympathetic nervous system (fight and flight) increasing pain and decreasing energy over time. By learning to breathe deeper and in a more effective way it can help increase energy. But learning to breathe effectively is a buy one gets one free, helps us increase our energy when we need it, but also helps us relax, and allows our bodies to find their rhythm again. Hopefully helping the individual feel energised in the day and contributing to better sleep.

If you’re interested in learning more, please feel free to contact me and keep tuned for the next blog.