Yoga is nowadays commonly recommended as a part of an injury rehabilitation program in sports because of the way in which it helps the body. A muscle injury can range anywhere from serious to mild and the effects can be long term. In most situations the injury is a result of trauma or workouts, sometimes leading to muscles tearing.
What should be known is that muscles are capable of incredible rehabilitation and there are different recovery programs that can be used. Yoga is best combined with the regular rehabilitation program that is designed by the physical trainer.
Why Yoga For Rehabilitation?
You have a natural desire to want to recover as soon as possible. With yoga you need to take it slow, have patience and balance will be necessary. When a yoga pose is achieved, a deep stretching will open your muscle, increasing blood flow and helping to detoxify your body. The poses will work specific groups. When an injury is present, supporting musculature is going to be strengthened.
Yoga works in various ways. It will relax your natural reflexes that tell your muscle to automatically contract. There are different things that can be said but one that is not actually known by many is that 3 spinal reflexes are going to be manipulated and enhanced: Myotatic Reflex, Inverse Myotatic Reflex and Reciprocal Relaxation Reflex.
Things To Remember When Incorporating Yoga Into Your Rehabilitation Routine
Yoga will surely be really helpful when you try to recover from an injury but only in the event that it is properly used. Even if you are highly experienced and have been doing yoga for a long time, starting rehabilitation following an injury is a totally different thing. It is important to work with someone that does know what he is doing. At the very least, you will need to be supervised. With an injury it is more important than ever to respect perfect form and not exaggerate. Stretching too much when the body is not capable of dealing with the pose would be detrimental to the recovery and can make the injury worse.
Some Recommended Rehabilitation Yoga Poses
Different yoga poses are going to be useful in recovering from different injuries. Some of the really common examples include:
- Sit Easy – The cross legged pose is a sitting one and includes intermingled arm positioning while raised. This pose strengthens the lower back area while opening hips and groin.
- Dog Cat – You are positioned on all your fours and have retracted and extended spine movement. The Erector muscle group is going to be stretched.
- Downward Facing Dog – In this position you keep your face down like you do a push-up. The bottom is raised towards the ceiling while keeping knees and arms straight. You do this pose to stretch your hamstrings and back.
- Cobra – The really popular yoga pose putting you on the stomach with palms and forearms flat while raising the chest is going to be extremely helpful in opening your chest as you strengthen your arms and back.