I believe yoga is a phenomenal way for people to get flexible and fit. You might think this statement is contradictory to the headline but I often tell people to do yoga in a studio or follow a video after we are done with physical therapy. I even know yoga teachers who have been able to help people with their pain when they failed physical therapy, chiropractors, and medical doctors. But when I do see people who started having pain after starting yoga, it's because they push too hard into the flexibility and don't focus enough on stability.
I feel yoga is synonymous with flexibility so people who are have tight muscles would be perfect for yoga. So when these people start yoga, they tend to push themselves into a zone of painful stretching because they feel it is good for them in the long term. What ends up happening though is as the muscles start to elongate, they enter into a new realm of movement they have never been in. Any muscle that is asked to do something new will always be weak and any weakness can become strong as long as you train in the new zone. Any zone of weakness opens up the door for potential injuries. If there's one thing I would suggest for people to do, it is to add a stability component once you have gained some new flexibility. If you can do that, then yoga can be extremely powerful. Now don't get me wrong, I just said right now I have one problem with yoga but I can give you a hundred other reasons why I think it's amazing. I often tell my patients that you can do this finalized exercise program or…. go to yoga.
In my opinion, effective improvements in flexibility needs to be done over a long period of time but there are people out there trying too hard to gain flexibility as fast as they can and forget about the stability component, potentially injuring themselves or having more aches and pains because of the yoga. So listen to your body, make sure that you're not overdoing it with the flexibility and that you're working on your stability components. Now if you are confused by what the stability components are, then I would suggest you go ahead and try to contact us.
If you are interested in ways to improve your stability while you work on your flexibility, contact me at michaelko@jlukpt.com
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500 N. Central Ave.
Glendale, CA 91203
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