The majority of my patients come for acute and chronic pain, muscle stiffness and vertebral misalignments (subluxations). During a session, I make adjustments to the spine and joints to remove subluxations, and I perform Active Release Therapy, or ART to help with the pain and stiffness.
But my goal as a chiropractor isn’t to keep you coming back every week — it’s to help make lasting, long-term changes to your health. So in addition to vertebral and muscular manipulation, I also teach strengthening and stretching exercises. But your health is a partnership between you and your healthcare providers, and it is up to us to provide you with ways in which you may continue down the path of wellness and away from relying on doctors to fix you when you’re broken.
So what can you do to continue to stretch and strengthen your body to keep it working optimally and pain-free? How about yoga? For over 5000 years yoga has been practiced and has increased longevity as well as quality of life.
There is significant overlap between yoga and chiropractic. Both seek to strengthen muscles, align joints and enhance neurological function. Both seek to give people the power to stay healthy, not requiring dependence on a caregiver. And both help you become more aware of and accepting of your body, learning to listen to it and honor its needs.
One issue I see in many patients is faulty proprioception, or not knowing where your body is in space. Do you trip over curbs, walk into doors or fall and twist your ankles regularly? Your body’s sensors may be off due to years of physical misalignment. By grounding through the feet and ankles and building core strength, yoga allows you to you reactivate the proprioceptors, creating better balance and awareness of where your body is and what it’s doing at all times.
In addition to rebuilding self-awareness and increasing balance, yoga also is a natural pain reducer. Lactic acid builds up in the muscles when we exercise and causes soreness and stiffness and contributes to chronic pain. Stretching decreases lactic acid build-up, and targeted stretches, like yoga poses, can help heal your personal hot spots, from neck to shoulders to hips.
Another reason I recommend yoga is stress relief. Deep breathing, stillness and focus all calm the body’s stress response, reducing stress hormones and creating better overall quality of life, particularly better sleep.
Finding a good yoga class is key to preventing injury. You can also get good instruction through magazines like Yoga Journal and yoga.com, though nothing beats a qualified instructor. While there’s no national standard of accreditation for teachers, the Yoga Alliance does credential teachers, requiring 200 or more hours for certification. Here’s a list of Knoxville yoga practitioners certified by Yoga Alliance. I know many of my patients go to Real Hot Yoga here in west Knoxville. I personally like this studio because I trust their instructors and they offer a variety of sessions from warm to the “real hot”, beginner to advanced. They also have an economical package that lets you try it for a month to see how you like it!
Recently greatist.com listed the 30 yoga poses you really need to know. They include the basics like Mountain Pose and Downward Dog along with some more challenging poses. It’s a good way to see what poses are out there, and to find the ones that appeal to you most.
I don’t recommend doing 30 poses at once, though. I recommend working with me or a yoga instructor to find 2-3 that are the best fit for you, and then working on them gradually and slowly until you’re ready for more. A beginner’s yoga class is also a great place to start.
So don’t be surprised if I recommend yoga during one of our sessions. This ancient practice, which puts health, strength and peace at its center, is a great complement to the work we do during our appointments.
In health,
Dr. John
