Physical therapists feature yoga in their treatments to help you manage pain, injuries, and muscle and joint issues. The practice is common in treating sports injuries, accidents, and chronic conditions like arthritis and osteoporosis. Here’s how physical therapy yoga can help you on your course:
Relieve Pain and Muscle Tension
One of the shared benefits of physical therapy and yoga is pain relief. Physical therapists can help you manage painful injuries, lower back pain, hip pain, and shoulder pain. Therapists also handle chronic swelling and stiffness, arthritic pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, osteoporosis, vertigo, and muscular dystrophy. Yoga poses should stretch and relax muscles, freeing knots to ease discomforts caused by stiffness. Poses like Child’s Pose and Pigeon Pose might reduce lower back pain, while Downward-Facing Dog targets shoulder pain. Physical therapy yoga poses potentially relieve discomfort in the neck, chest, abdominal muscles, glutes, hips, legs, calves, and wrists. The therapy may also improve circulation, which increases oxygen and nutrient supply to injured tissues.
Increase Flexibility and Agility
The stretching and relaxation techniques used in yoga therapies frequently improve functional movement in the muscles and joint performance. Aches and injuries may restrict people from moving and reaching the full range of motion. By practicing yoga, you can slowly regain your mobility following an accident or injury. Yoga poses like Downward-Facing Dog, Mountain Pose, and Cat-Cow Pose help to stretch the joints and muscles to increase flexibility and muscle agility. Increased flexibility could reduce the chances of future injuries. Reduced tension may allow you to walk, stand, sit, and function normally without overcompensating. Yoga therapy is also a form of exercise that promotes circulation and potentially promotes healing and cell growth.
Improve Coordination and Balance
Yoga can help you regain balance and coordination after a traumatic injury or many days of bed rest. Poses like Warrior III and Tree Pose involve standing on one leg to promote hip and core strengthening and stability. Yoga instructors also offer balance boards and customized sessions built around your needs. Some physical therapy yoga practices involve walking on uneven ground, squatting, or posing in plank positions. Other poses, like the Crop Pose and Side Plank, focus on your core, shoulders, arms, back, and upper body. Trainers might use twisting poses like the Side Angle and Half-Moon to increase mind-body control and concentration while increasing awareness and flexibility.
Strengthen Muscles and Joints
Another way physical therapy yoga treatments could help you is by strengthening muscles and joints that directly affect movement. Some injuries make it nearly impossible to move and exercise for extended periods of time. These situations can lead to fatigue, weakness, and muscle loss. Yoga poses may increase circulation to promote healing and stretch and relax your muscles to decrease discomfort after inactivity. The moves also strengthen your neck, shoulders, arms, back, core, hips, and legs and restore muscle and joint function. Common strength poses include Plank, Upward Plank, Boat Pose, and Warrior poses.
Promote Sleep and Stress Management
Physical therapy practices like yoga work to keep you active and alert. The improved physical function and boosted metabolism could come with other benefits like increased blood flow and less inflammation. Yoga may also calm the nervous system to reduce stress while promoting self-awareness and mindfulness. As a workout and pain reliever, yoga can promote and improve the quality of sleep, which is helpful in the healing process. Physical therapists use yoga to encourage deeper mind-body connections, release tension, and reduce the stress of recovering from an accident.
Get Started With Physical Therapy Yoga Today
Yoga can complement other physical therapy treatments to improve rehabilitation outcomes. The practice may also promote mental health and well-being while addressing posture issues and relieving stress and tension. Contact an experienced instructor today to find out more about physical therapy yoga.
