Yoga practice harmony is true and extreme and harms the spine

In recent years, due to yoga's own advantages, star effect and publicity through various channels, more and more China people have joined the ranks of practicing yoga. Yoga (YOGA) means "combination" and "consistency" in Sanskrit, which means that it advocates combining the self with the inner spiritual factors and advocates cultivating the natural beauty of the body in various soothing and stretching movements. It is a suitable choice for health exercise. However, it should be reminded that if you are not prepared enough and are too aggressive during practice, it may be counterproductive and cause physical damage, especially to the spine. Professor Liang De from the Spine Department of the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine pointed out that more and more people are suffering from spinal injuries due to improper practice, and some serious cases even cause serious consequences such as spinal cord injury. Yoga practitioners should pay close attention to this issue.

reminder 1

Forced posterior extension and flexion may wear out the spinal joints

Many people may be very puzzled, how can yoga practice cause spinal damage? In this regard, Professor Liang De pointed out that yoga is a good fitness method, but if it is not practiced properly, it may cause spinal damage. Most of the currently popular yoga postures use force in the opposite direction of the joints. In yoga, there are a large number of postures where the spine is stretched and flexed back, which need to be maintained for a long time. For ordinary people, the spine can easily bend forward, but backward extension and flexion are obviously limited. Forced hyperextension may cause wear of spinal joints, and even spinal dislocation and nerves are compressed due to compression behind the spine.

Reminder 2

Patients with spinal disease cannot use yoga as a treatment method

Mr. Zhang was diagnosed with cervical spondylotic myelopathy in 2006. Since the spinal cord compression was not serious, he chose conservative treatment. By chance, he heard that practicing yoga could "prevent" cervical spondylosis, so he bought a set of yoga teaching CDs from a store and learned the same. After learning it a few times, I felt good, so I began to challenge some relatively difficult movements. Once, when he stretched his cervical spine backwards as much as possible, he suddenly felt weak in his lower limbs and collapsed. Finally, his family was rushed to the hospital for an MRI examination and diagnosed with cervical disc herniation combined with spinal cord contusion and bleeding.

In this regard, Professor Liang De pointed out that Mr. Zhang originally suffered from cervical spondylotic myelopathy. The spinal cord was already compressed, and the buffer space for the spinal cord in the spinal canal was very small. When he forcibly extended the cervical spine, the degree of stenosis of the cervical spinal canal and the degree of compression of the spinal cord were further aggravated, causing serious consequences of paralysis of the lower limbs. In clinical practice, there are also many patients with lumbar disc herniation and lumbar spondylolisthesis whose condition worsens after practicing yoga. Therefore, it is not suitable for some patients with spinal diseases to practice yoga, let alone mistakenly believe that yoga can treat spinal diseases. Before practicing yoga, you should accept the advice of professional coaches and specialist physicians, and you should not self-study yourself at will to avoid greater damage to the spine.

Practice yoga and keep in mind the "two noes"

Professor Liang De pointed out that in spinal specialist clinics, patients with spinal damage caused by improper exercise are often encountered. Their experiences and lessons suggest--

1. You should not rush for success in practicing yoga

Xiao Wang was busy with work and lacked exercise on weekdays. One day, a close friend took her to learn yoga, and the coach made her slowly get used to it. But when she saw the coach making beautiful and stretching and difficult movements, she couldn't help but be eager to try and imitate. Suddenly, she felt severe pain in her waist and was sent to the hospital by her friends. Finally, she was diagnosed with acute lumbar sprain and lumbar facet joint disorder at the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Fortunately, after timely treatment by the doctor, She has made a good recovery.

2. Practice yoga should not be too radical

Ms. Li is a department manager with high self-requirements and serious work. She has been learning yoga since 2000. After practicing, she found that every time she practiced, she felt relaxed and practiced every day. According to her introduction, sometimes her practice time will exceed twice the regular practice time. At the beginning of this year, she felt sore in her waist after training. She did not pay attention to it at first. Later, the pain gradually worsened and was accompanied by lower limbs pain, which affected her normal walking. She had to go to the hospital for treatment. Finally, she was diagnosed with "lumbar disc herniation." When she first learned about this situation, she was very puzzled. The doctor told her that if the lumbar vertebra is hyperstretched, the pressure on the disc may be greater, which will aggravate disc degeneration and cause protrusion. Ms. Li was still ineffective after systematic conservative treatment, and she eventually underwent surgery. (Internship Editor: Wu Jinyu)