Physical therapists use many treatments, including yoga poses and stretching therapies. These treatments are designed to alleviate pain and discomfort, boost blood circulation, and increase strength and flexibility. Here is an overview of three physical therapy yoga treatments:
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1. Yoga for Strength
A painful injury or chronic condition can make it difficult to walk, stand, sit, or function normally. Some injuries interfere with circulation and starve your muscles of oxygen and nutrients. Your doctor may also recommend resting in bed for several days or weeks to avoid aggravating the injury. Such circumstances may lead to muscle and joint weakness. Physical therapy yoga is one of the treatments used to exercise and strengthen your muscles and joints. These treatments also relieve pain and tension, build endurance, improve muscle function, and reduce the likelihood of injury.
Some poses use squats, planks, lunges, and other common workouts to target the back, core, hips, legs, or other muscle groups. Yogis also use compound and progressive moves to work out your entire body. Strength poses include the plank and upward plank poses, warrior I, II, and III poses, and the boat pose. These moves challenge and strengthen your abdominal and back muscles and hip flexors. Yoga strength poses also strengthen your wrists, forearms, and shoulders. Strengthening your muscles and joints reduces fatigue, improves circulation, and allows you to heal and recover faster from your injury.
2. Yoga for Flexibility
One of the goals of physical therapy treatments is to improve your flexibility. Muscle tension, sports injuries, accidents, and illness can interfere with your mobility. When you’re sick or in pain, you may avoid physical activity or overcompensate by using specific muscles more than others. Although these approaches reduce the discomfort, the unused joints and muscles may become stiffer. Yoga therapy uses stretching techniques to relieve muscle tension and stiffness while promoting circulation. The poses also improve joint mobility, range of motion, and overall flexibility.
Yoga stretching poses include the downward-facing dog, child’s pose, bound angle, high lunge, and extended triangle. Others include the mountain pose, warrior half frog, cat-cow pose, king pigeon pose, bridge pose, and forward bend. Yoga trainers use many other stretching poses for different needs, targets, and levels. Some moves involve neck stretches, shoulder rolls, and hip rotations. These techniques help to stretch muscles and joints in the neck, back, hips, hamstring, quad, and calf. Physical therapists usually use stretching yoga treatments to keep you active, prevent fatigue, relieve pain, and aid injury recovery.
3. Yoga for Balance
Physical therapists use yoga moves to strengthen muscles and joints, speed up the healing process, and relieve pain. These benefits help to restore your physical function and reduce the risk of hunching, overcompensation, falls, and accidents. Common balance and coordination movements include the tree and warrior III poses, which involve standing on one leg. These poses build strength and stability in your core, hips, knees, and ankles. Yoga trainers also provide balance boards and uneven surfaces to help improve balance.
Techniques like the crow and side plank improve arm balance and strengthen your core and upper body. Other poses like the revolved half-moon and side angle use twisting to improve flexibility, strength, and coordination. Yoga schools and trainers also use the standing forward pose, standing hand-to-toe pose, eagle pose, and dancer’s pose. These physical therapy moves help to strengthen your brain networks, improve concentration, and enhance body control. Therapists integrate these balance poses in their treatments to make you more agile and improve your endurance.
Get Started With Physical Therapy Yoga Today
Yoga can be used alongside other physical therapy workouts like massage, walking, running, cycling, and swimming. This ancient practice is available for all levels and helps to retrain your mind and body to move better in life. Contact an online trainer today to get started with physical therapy yoga.
