Yoga for Healthy Joints: Make Your Bones Stronger Before 60
Overview
A lot of things seem to change as we age. Our perception of things and how we tend to view life naturally changes. Also, we are bound to change physically. A transition from youthful days to the old age days will definitely leave us weaker than we used to. This can be attributed to the loss of bone mass after the age of 30. Both men and women will reach their maximum bone mass at this age after which it will be a matter of maintaining it.
Joints and Aging While men will be afflicted by bone mass decline, the loss will not be as severe as for the women. According to the Osteoporosis Foundation, a woman can lose up to 20% of their bone mass in seven years after the end of menopause. What causes this? Well, bones are living tissues that the body breaks down and builds in
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When starting out, seek the help of a yoga teacher/ practitioner who will guide you through the postures. He/ she will guide you on the recommended postures for your age and if you have a condition, the postures that are safe for you. Note that some of them may cause injury leading to permanent damage especially if your bones are fragile.
Reasons Why Yoga is good for Bone health
1. It is Isometric. This means that it is performed in a static position. By so doing, the force of the muscles contracts over the bones, making them thicker and stronger.
2. It’s a low impact exercise. Rarely will you come across a weight bearing exercise that is gently on the joints. Most of the weight bearing exercises such as running will put too much pressure on the cartilage and joints unlike yoga.
3. Anybody can try out yoga. Yoga is suitable for all persons irrespective of age or ability level. In the event that all other exercises are too painful for you, then yoga might just be the technique to opt for. It also helps you come down and cope with any situation you may be
Around the age of 30, the body starts losing bone faster than it able to replace that and between the ages of 65 and 70 men and woman start losing bone at the same rate (Stang, 2016). There are many risk factors that give you a greater chance of getting
Before adding the Ujjayi breath to your yoga practice, try to do it while seated on your mat in a crosslegged position. Begin by taking a slow, smooth breath in through you nose. You should not breathe in so much air that it is uncomfortable.
The purpose of the squat is to train the muscles around the knees and hip joints, as well as to develop strength in the lower back, for execution of basic skills required in many sporting events and activities of daily living. Because a strong and stable knee is extremely important to an athlete or patient’s success, an understanding of knee biomechanics while performing the squat is helpful to therapists, trainers, and athletes alike (11). Because most activities of daily living require the coordinated contraction of several muscle groups at once, and squatting (a multi-joint movement) is one of the few strength training exercises that is able to effectively recruit multiple muscle groups in a single movement, squats are considered one of the most functional and efficient weight-bearing exercises whether an individual’s goals are sport specific or are for an increased quality of life
Women are at a higher threat of developing osteoporosis when their ovaries discontinue producing estrogen. This is due to the fact that estrogen supports maintaining proper calcium levels in bones. “A collapse of bony vertebrae of the spinal column results in loss of height and stooped posture. Hip fractures are a common occurrence.”
The concept of modern yoga are like a maze and many find them confusing to begin with. But all styles of yoga practiced today can be traced back to three historical bases.
As you keep easing pressure on your vertebrae, you also benefit from the loosening of your body muscles including the upper back region, neck and many other parts. Resultantly your body posture equally
Exercising builds muscular endurance which improved the posture and that way the pressure from the spine is taken away and it is protected from compression fractures.
Throughout our lives, our bodies break down the old bone and it replaces it with new bone. But as age increases, more and more bone is broken down than what is replaced. The bones in our bodies are constantly changing and never stay the same. Special cells called osteoclasts, located in the body have the main function of removing bone. These are different from another special cell called osteoblasts, which are bone-forming cells. If a person does not have osteoporosis, there is a balance between these two cells in the bone. But if the person is osteoporotic, osteoclasts will remove the bone faster than the osteoblasts can form the new bone. This will result in a net bone loss. Do you know what a honeycomb looks like? That is what the inside of the bone normally looks like, but when a person has osteoporosis the looks change. The spaces inside the bone become a lot larger, this showing the loss of bone strength and density. The outside of the bone also thins, making the bone even weaker. Osteoporosis causes permanent changes in the bone. There are some basic mechanisms that are responsible for the development of osteoporosis such as poor bone mass acquisition during growth and accelerated bone loss in the time period after one’s peak bone mass is achieved. Both are related with genetic factors. The risk of fracture in postmenopausal women is mainly determined by the peak bone mass during premenopausal stage. Peak bone mass
If it is done properly and regularly it can help increase flexibility, balance, and coordination. The non stop flowing movements help the body deal with stress and help decrease blood pressure levels which can contribute to many conditions. This is such a unique form of exercise because older people can do it that have chronic conditions such as digestive disorders, arthritis, fibromyalgia and anxiety.
To start, Ashtanga Yoga is defined a dynamic, flowing style that connects the movement of the body with the breath. The method stresses the importance of daily practice of a set series of movements.Next, Bikram Yoga is considered a great way to stretch, detoxify, relieve stress, tone, and heal, but here's everything you need to know first to stay safe during your practice. It is similar to hot yoga, where you move in fast pace movements, and no matter where you are around the world they do the same 26 poses in 90 minutes. The last type is called Yin Yoga. It is a slow-paced style of yoga with postures, or asanas, that are held for longer periods of time—for beginners,
Becoming a healthier person interests us all, from young to old, being fit is something we strive for. Nowadays, one means of achieving that goal is through yoga. Though the use of breathing exercises, meditation and strength postures, people have actually lowered their blood pressure, aches and pains fade away as their body becomes more athletic.
With yoga as a part of your daily routine, physical health issues can be treated. Back Pain if left untreated can lead to surgery. Ways of avoiding surgery include relaxing the nerves, fixing your posture, loosening and strengthening the muscles, which can be corrected by the practicing of yoga. Bad posture can eventually cause nerves in the spine to come out which are painful for the spinal disk and vertebrae. By gaining physical awareness by using yoga stretching and breathing you can focus more on the sensations your body feels while doing the simplest of tasks such as washing your dishes. (McCall 190) Effect of Short-Term Intensive Yoga Program on Pain, Functional Disability And Spinal Flexibility in Chronic Low Back Pain: A Randomized Control Study writes “Deep relaxation of the spinal muscles achieved during safe body movements with mindful awareness may form the basis of improvement observed in flexibility and pain within this short period of intervention” (Tekur et al.
Good posture will also decrease the wearing of joints, which could potentially lead to joint pain or conditions — like arthritis — and it will minimize the amount of stress on the body’s ligaments, which can reduce the chances of injury. Maintaining a good posture will allow muscles to work more efficiently and effectively, enabling the body to utilize less energy, therefore relieving muscle fatigue and tension.
Desk or office workers often come up complaining about almost negligible physical activity during their 8-hour job. And the irony is that those with a standing job complain about not getting time to sit for a while and take rest. But, the truth is that desk job actually causes people to go through some serious health issues.
Health is considered a complete wellness of a body including physical, mental and social well-being and Holistic Health is considered a wellness of a whole body including mind, body and spirit. According to American Holistic Medicine Association “Holistic medicine is the art and science of healing that addresses the whole person – body, mind and spirit” (Wollumbin, page 3). Holistic Health is an alternate way to treat, prevent, and wellness of an illness and achieves the best possible level of health. It focuses on the whole body rather than just symptoms or diseases. It is an approach to heal the physical, psychological, environmental, spiritual, nutritional health of one’s being. For each individual, the definition of holistic health is different and in simple words it is an alternate way of treatment where physical, mental, emotional and spiritual works equally together to attain a health. In western medicine, standard treatment is given with drugs or surgery according to symptoms or diseases or injuries where a doctor or a physician determines the ways of treatment and the patient has to follow the recommendations. Whereas, holistic health is a complete opposite way to treat the illness where patients cooperate in their illnesses, take the responsibility of their treatments, make their own decision for own level of well-being and thoroughly participate in their health care plan.