What a Single Yoga Pose a Day Could Do

A single yoga pose each day may improve spine curvature for scoliosis patients

A new study claims performing a single yoga pose for 90 seconds for at least 3 days a week could reduce spine curvature in patients with scoliosis in as little as 3 months.

Patients with scoliosis who did the side plank yoga pose for 90 seconds a day saw significant improvement in spine curvature.

The researchers, including Dr. Loren Fishman of the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York, NY, publish their findings in the journal Global Advances in Health and Medicine.

Scoliosis - a condition in which the spine curves to the side - affects around 6 million people in the US and is accountable for more than 600,000 doctor visits each year. Although scoliosis can affect all age groups, onset is most common between the ages of 10-15.

Severe scoliosis - defined as a spine curvature of more than 45 degrees - is usually treated with surgery. There are non-surgery techniques available for patients with spine curvatures less than 45 degrees - one of the most common being bracing.

Each year, around 30,000 children and adolescents with scoliosis are fitted with a brace that is worn for around 23 hours a day, helping to straighten the childen's spines as they grow.

The researchers note that a popular bracing method - most commonly used in adolescent girls - requires patients to attend 40 2-hour sessions, three times a week for 3-4 months. The patients are then urged to carry out lifelong exercises for 30 minutes a day.

"Since many scoliosis patients are adolescent girls, the unwieldy bracing and lengthy exercising is socially awkward, emotionally painful and physically difficult," says Dr. Fishman. "And yet untreated scoliosis can progress at 7% per year, and result in disability and life-threatening health risks."

Patients required to perform the side plank on weaker side of spine

In their study, Dr. Fishman and colleagues set out to determine the effectiveness of one basic yogapose - known as the side plank - on 25 participants aged 14-85 with idiopathic scoliosis.

The side plank involves lying on one side of the body with straight knees, and propping up the upper body with the elbow and forearm.

After undergoing an initial examination, an X-ray and an evaluation by a radiologist, patients were shown how to carry out the yoga pose.

In the first week, they were instructed to do the pose on the side their spine was curved toward for 10-20 seconds each day. They were then asked to do the pose once daily for as long as possible, still on the side of their spine curvature.

Explaining the reasons behind asking the patients to do the pose on the side of their curvature, Dr. Fishman says:

"Since scoliosis is an asymmetrical condition, I have treated it asymmetrically, asking patients to do the pose on the weaker side only. That strengthens the specific spinal muscles on the convex side that are needed to help with curve reduction."

He adds that the National Scoliosis Foundation recommend that individuals with scoliosis perform 25 yoga poses to help with their spine curvature. However, he points out that no clinical results support the effectiveness of this, and patients are not advised to perform these poses asymmetrically.

Patients' spine curvatures were measured at the beginning and end of the study using the standard Cobb angle technique, and X-rays were taken again once the study ceased.

Yoga pose improved spine curvature by around 32% among all patients

On average, participants did the side plank pose for 1.5 minutes a day, 6.1 days a week for 6.8 months.

The researchers found that spine curvature improved by around 32% over all patients. Among 19 patients who did the yoga pose for at least 3 days a week, spine curvature improved by 40.9%. Of these patients, adolescents saw a 49.6% improvement in curvature, while adults saw a 38.4% improvement.

Commenting on the findings, the researchers say:

"Asymmetrically strengthening the convex side of the primary curve with daily practice of the side plank pose held for as long as possible for an average of 6.8 months significantly reduced the angle of primary scoliotic curves. These results warrant further testing."

Numerous studies have hailed the benefits of yoga for other health problems. Earlier this year, Medical News Today reported on a study that suggested yoga could reduce the risk of anxiety and depression in expectant mothers, while a 2013 study claimed yoga could help lower blood pressure.

This article originally appeared on medicalnewstoday.com and was written by Honor Whiteman

Yoga Therapy: Why Doctors Are Prescribing The Ancient Practice

In 2011, Jacquelyn Jackson had the most traumatizing year of her life. On a beautiful morning in Tucson, she was just 25 feet away when her former boss, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, and 18 others were shot in a grocery store parking lot. In the weeks that followed, as Jackson began suffering symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (including chronic anxiety and difficulty sleeping), she turned to a psychotherapist. The sessions helped “tremendously,” she says but 11 months later, when her seemingly healthy younger brother died suddenly from a brain tumor. “the trauma was so great I felt like I needed something more.”

Desperate, Jackson looked online for support and stumbled upon yoga therapy, an emerging treatment for people struggling with anxiety, grief, and trauma. Long practiced in India, yoga therapy was introduced in the United States some three decades ago but has begun gaining popularity only in the past five years or so. (Membership in the International Association of Yoga Therapists [IAYT] has quadrupled since 2004, to about 3,200, and next year the IAYT plans to begin accrediting yoga schools to offer a standardized certification program.)

“It’s not just postures,” says yoga therapist Janice Gates. “We use all the tools of yoga — breath work, sound, visualization, and meditation — and tailor them to a client’s specific health condition.” One of Gates’s clients was a woman in her 40s who was experiencing serious depression and anxiety but couldn’t tolerate psychiatric medication. While a doctor oversaw the medical issues, Gates worked with the client weekly to manage her moods. On days when she was anxious, Gates led her through exercises like standing poses and forward bends (to help her feel more grounded) and exhalation breath work (to calm her down). When the woman was depressed, she did back bends and inhalation exercises, designed to give her energy. Six months later, the woman’s crippling dark moods, once a thrice-weekly occurrence, now overtake her only a few times each month. With her newfound energy — and time — she’s teaching art classes to children.

Though research on the efficacy of yoga therapy is ongoing, traditional doctors are taking notice — and finding it, in some cases, to be a valuable complement to the work they’re already doing. “Yoga therapy can be extremely helpful for people who need a way to work through what they’re experiencing, not just in their minds but in their bodies,” says psychotherapist Jack Obedzinski, MD, of Corte Madera, California. “Often, it allows my patients to experience a feeling of calm in a way they couldn’t in talk therapy.” And, he says, this calmness can bring more clarity and awareness to their traditional sessions.

For Jackson, one-on-one yoga appointments with Amy Weintraub, a pioneer in the field and author of Yoga for Depression, proved transformative. In their first session, Jackson “was practically hyperventilating with anxiety,” says Weintraub, who created a program that included “stair-step” breathing, building up to deeper and deeper breaths. “What the yoga did was provide a slow, gradual path to help her manage her moods and not immediately react when grief arose.” After just a few sessions, Jackson no longer used medication to help her sleep at night. “Working with Amy was like doing emotional Roto-Rooter-ing,” she says. “I had so much stress in my body, and she was able to help dislodge it — and clear it out.”

This article originally appeared on huffingtonpost.com and was written By Laura Hilgers.

Check out our UPCOMING MENTAL WELLNESS WORKSHOPS with Shari Arial: Yoga for Anxiety, Stress & Trauma.

Yoga as Therapy for Individual Care

YOGA THERAPY uses the tools of yoga to achieve specific outcomes according to the needs of the individual. It is fast becoming an accepted health modality in Canada, offering all people, including those experiencing a wide range of ailments or disabilities, guidance and personal tools that they can use to enhance their life.

At Reset Wellness on Whyte we cater to your needs with two specialties within Yoga Therapy, emotional and physical support, and Private Hatha Yoga.

“Being authentic means taking the elevator down inside ourselves and noticing whatever we happen to be experiencing right now. It may change from moment to moment.”

— Dr. Sue Johnson

PHOENIX RISING YOGA THERAPY invites people into a safe, predictable and non-judgmental space to help find peace in the present moment. People will develop an awareness of, and begin to experience their bodies in new ways so that they can gain acceptance and a more compassionate relationship with their bodies. This then enables them to befriend, reclaim and feel safe in their bodies so that they can explore the interaction between their mind and their body.

Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy invites people into a safe, predictable and non-judgmental space to help find peace in the present moment. People will develop an awareness of, and begin to experience their bodies in new ways so that they can gain acceptance and a more compassionate relationship with their bodies. This then enables them to befriend, reclaim and feel safe in their bodies so that they can explore the interaction between their mind and their body.

The effects of trauma whether from childhood abuse and/or, neglect, ignorance, assault, disaster, accident, injury, disease, illness or disability causes feelings of shock, pain, sadness and guilt. This then becomes locked in the body, causing unresolved stress and trauma with survivors becoming disconnected from, and untrusting of their bodies.

Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy helps to unlock pain in a sensitive, supportive way, using especially chosen physical postures, breathing techniques and Yoga Psychology. It helps identify triggers, and face, accept and bear the effects of the trauma. It aids in increasing mental clarity, concentration and steadier emotions. It is not contorting the body into unattainable positions and people will work at their own capacity. Compassionately guided by Shari Arial, Edmonton's only Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapist.

Shari Arial, Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapist

“Focus on keeping your spine straight. It is the job of the spine to keep the brain alert. ”

— B.K.S. Iyengar

STRUCTURAL YOGA THERAPY invites people with alignment, functional or structural health issues to safely be supported through holistic, individualized treatment plans, helping people build confidence, balance, coordination, improved techniques, greater range of movement and strength. People will develop the awareness of physical imbalance at its true point, often away from the site of pain, and be taught how to move their body according to its needs. This enables a sense of ability and accomplishment in the individual, helping people feel their health is 'in their hands'.

Injury, poor posture, weight issues, or disabilities have lingering effects on the whole body, affecting the integrity and strength of more than just the site of the issue, sometimes silently. Unresolved physical stress compounds locally, but also extends as a chain-reaction to surrounding tissues, organs, and systems. For those with acute or chronic pain, the chain-reaction is often predictable, a pattern of physical stress that can be turned around.

Structural Yoga Therapy helps move you in to better health and well-being in an attentive, supportive way, using specialized treatment plans to achieve your personal health goals overtime and within your limits. It helps foster a sense of connection and acceptance of your body, while teaching about the strategies and power in ourselves, to be the force behind our own health. Shari Arial can help you reach your goals of physical discipline, relaxation or transformation with a structural approach to Yoga Therapy.
 

“Yoga teaches us to cure what need not be endured and endure what can not be cured”

— B.K.S. Iyengar

PRIVATE HATHA YOGA invites people in to a safe, private environment to learn and practice yoga for their own personal sense of relaxation and achievement. Under the full, gentle attention of April Kosinski - Yin, Yang, Hatha and Myofascial Yoga Instructor - sessions are designed to gradually improve yoga skills, postures and techniques - according to your goals - helping build confidence within a practice. One on one sessions are 75 mins in a comfortable, quiet space, no other students around for the ultimate, tailored experience with yoga.

"Feeling sad? Sit in Lotus. Better yet, rise up into a backbend or soar royally into King Dancer Pose. While it’s not as simple as that, one study found that a consistent yoga practice improved depression and led to a significant increase in serotonin levels and a decrease in the levels of monoamine oxidase (an enzyme that breaks down neurotransmitters) and cortisol. At the University of Wisconsin, Richard Davidson, Ph.D., found that the left prefrontal cortex showed heightened activity in meditators, a finding that has been correlated with greater levels of happiness and better immune function. More dramatic left-sided activation was found in dedicated, long-term practitioners." -Timothy McCall, M.D. 

April Kosinski, Yoga Instructor