Moving Through Arthritis

One of the many benefits of yoga is the range of motion that it creates in the joints. The poses that you do throughout a yoga class will take your joints through all their movements. This is healthy for the joint as it lubricates it, allowing for better movement and if you have arthritis, less pain.

Arthritis is an inflammation in the joints. There are over 100 types of it and it’s usually a result of a trauma, an infection or simply aging of the joint. The pain is generally constant and may be localized to the joint area.

You don’t have to be old to have arthritis. Hyperflexibility, which is when the tendons and ligaments in the body are stretched out, therefore not giving the joint the stability it needs, causing trauma to the joint which can develop into arthritis. I’m only 36 and due to my hyperflexibility I have arthritis in my SI joint (the triangular bone at the base of your spine). Building strength in your yoga practice is essential to protecting your joints.

Once you develop arthritis you will have it for life. A gentle yoga practice will help with the symptoms. As mentioned above the rotation of the joints will produce synovial fluid, which acts as a lubricant to help the joint move better (think of oil in a car). Mukunda Stiles created a series called the Joint Freeing Series which can be found here: http://www.crohnsforum.com/yoga/Joint-Freeing-Series.pdf

This series is wonderful for the joints. If you do it every morning, doing each exercise or just the ones specific to your area with arthritis, it will help to reduce the pain in that area and lesson the stiffness in the joint. Generally when we have pain in an area of the body we tend to move it less for fear of it hurting when we do. This can lead to a loss of range of motion and can cause issues in other parts of the body.

For example, if you have arthritis in your left hip you will move it less. This will cause stiffness in the lower back and glutes (butt). It will also cause you to overuse the right side of your body which can  lead to imbalances in the body. For instance your left side of the body will be weaker and the right side of your body will be stronger, but tight which can lead to pain. As you do the exercises notice if it is easier on one side verses the other. When doing an exercise with the left hip (like number 5 in the series) and it feels weak, focus on building strength with the exercise (add a light weight). If it feels tight then focus on the stretch (when you feel a point of stretch in the exercise, hold it and breath 3-5 breaths before resuming the movement). This will help to reduce the imbalance in your body caused by your arthritis.

For each exercise you chose, do it 3-5 times, doing slow deliberate movements, move with your breath. Don’t overdo it as that will cause more harm than help. If you find throughout the day that you are getting stiff, do a round of the exercise for that area. Remember, this isn’t a fix, but will help to ease the pain a bit, help you to keep some of your range of motion and prevent more issues from arising in other parts of the body.