Are your mind, body and spirit out of tune? You might think about pulling out the yoga mat. Yoga is practiced by millions worldwide to reduce stress, increase flexibility and improve overall health, but some experts warn that all of those complex stretches and maneuvers could be doing serious damage to your body. Is yoga the secret to a healthy life, or could you just be kicking yourself?
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Physical Therapists Concur That Stiff is Better Than Flexible
Does Physical Therapy Harm the Body?
i am not suggesting that anyone has the intention of harm. the way we treat injuries today is much different than we did 50 years ago. was harm done then?
should yoga teachers know more? without question.
EVERYTHING has the potential to be harmful. what's not clear in the inital argument (i.e., "Physical Therapists Concur That Stiff is Better Than Flexible"), is how to explain the origins of the "stiffness". and for what purpose is stiff better than flexible.
if we make the assumption that we are assessing the patient using the nine point flexibility test, then flexible (i.e., hyper-flexible) is more challenging to rehabilitate; adding functional tension to joints that are congenitally lax. hyper-flexible requires significant strengthening of the soft tissues that cross the joint(s).
when treating patients, it is my experience that it is easier to work with those who are not outliers, but those in the middle of the curve.
stiffness, if a result of a sendentary lifesytle, is considerably easier to rehabilitate. along with releasing trigger points and normalizing the soft tissue, adding functional movement therapy is relatively easier than rehabilitating hyper-mobile patients.
there is no stability in stiff. i think we all agree that instability leads to injury -- whether hyper-flexible or stiff.
anyone injured, with postural distortions or dysfunctional movement patterns needs more than a minimally trained yoga teacher; similarly, a general practitioner is inappropriate to perform brain surgery.
- JayaJeff
June 8, 2009 4:48AM
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