Yoga for healthy bones
The challenge as we age is to exercise in a way that does not contribute to bone fractures or have a negative effect on our joints. Common forms of high-impact, weight-bearing exercise, such as jogging and various other sports, are known to stimulate bone-building cells. Unfortunately, over time, such forms of movement often contribute to joint destruction that can result in hip and knee replacements.
Recent studies report that yoga improves the actual congruence of the joints, undoing (reversing) the wear and tear responsible for osteoarthritis. Non-impact, weight-bearing exercise, such as swimming, will not wear down your joints, but it will not strengthen your bones either. The good news is that a balanced yoga practice can give you all the positive benefits of weight training without negative wear and tear on your joints.
Yoga is the ideal exercise recipe for the prevention of osteoporosis, for those already at risk and for bone regeneration. The 206 bones of the human body live, breathe and change tissue that requires a constant supply of blood and nutrients and a flow of energy or prana. Yoga poses, in addition to providing a superior form of weight-bearing exercise that stimulates the bones to retain calcium, also helps to stimulate and distribute the flow of synovial fluid, which lubricates the joints between the bones.
Jogging, dancing, lifting weights, racquet sports, and other forms of exercise, while strengthening the bones, can cause further imbalance in the muscular system. On the contrary, yoga poses balance the muscular system while strengthening the bones. When the muscular system is balanced, the skeletal system realigns itself, reducing the risk of wear and tear conditions such as osteoarthritis.
Ten reasons why yoga improves bone strength at any age
1. In yoga, the weight is supported through the entire body. In weighted standing postures, inverted postures, and partially inverted postures such as downward facing dog, active backbends, and various arm balances, weight is consistently applied to the bones of the hands, wrists, arms, upper body body, neck and head. and feet and legs.
2. Because yoga poses are learned gradually, the weight applied to the bones increases safely and progressively, as the student becomes stronger and can hold the poses for longer periods.
3. While strengthening, yoga poses simultaneously promote mobility in the hips and shoulders, eliminate joint stiffness, and provide flexibility to the entire body.
4. Standing postures and other postures that require one to strongly engage the bones and muscles of the legs affect the pelvis and spine. This increases circulation and benefits the health of the entire body.
5. Yoga prevents and can even reverse the most visible and obvious symptom of osteoporosis and aging: rounding of the spine. Yoga poses encourage a concavity of the spine, rather than a convex hump shape. Decreased height is not always the result of bone loss. Years of poor posture and lack of stretching can also make us shorter than we were before. Some loss of height results from the reduction of the spaces between the vertebral discs, even when bone density is good. Yoga helps keep the space between the vertebrae open, smooth, and flexible.
6. Weight-bearing through the arms and upper spine in poses such as downward-facing dog and handstand and other weight-bearing inversions keep the upper spine strong. The weight-bearing upper-body poses of yoga are particularly beneficial in preventing capillary fractures in the vertebrae that result in the curvature of the upper back common in older people.
7. While other weight-bearing exercises strain the body and wear down the joints, yoga increases flexibility and “lubricates” the joints by giving them an internal massage.
8. Seated postures help keep hip joints healthy by requiring a wide range of movements that increase mobility.
9. Yoga poses also have a balancing effect on the endocrine glands, which contributes to the formation of strong and healthy bones. Restorative yoga poses, such as the wall-supported leg pose, replenish the adrenal glands, thereby reducing stress levels and inhibiting excess calcium secretion. Supported backbends, which can be as mild as restorative postures, such as lying on a cushion, or more intense, such as using a chair or backrest for support, promote deep relaxation and restore endocrine health.
10. Yoga improves balance and coordination, helping to prevent falls. The agility and flexibility derived from a range of motion help us maintain balance and avoid falls.