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| Can power yoga rebuild a torn rotator cuff? |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
    
| Hi Tom and welcome to the forums. I think most people here would suggest a less aerobic form of yoga for rehab. (Note that less aerobic does NOT mean "easier"  ) Iyengar or Anusara would most likely be more appropriate since working on the alignment and very careful working of the injury is extra important. Many "power" styles include a lot of push-up type moves and not sufficient time to pay extra-close attention to the movement in the affected area and re-injury is more possible that way. Of course, there are exceptions (don't flame me, guys! I know some power classes are taught by teachers who could handle this!) but generally, I would say that "power," "flow" or "vinyasa" classes are not the best for rehab. |
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| Dear Bugyoga:
There is NO Yoga which rebuilds Torn Muscles. Torn Muscles are only build by one thing that is Rest. After the muscle is healed, you can do building with exercise within your limit, and then continue rest and good food. It will build within a reasonable time. You can increase your exercise as the building occurs, for more building. Now, the type of building will be according to exercise, that is if you do dynamic exercise, it will build accordingly, and if you do static in that way. This has NOTHING to do with Power or Iyengar or any style.
Neel Kulkarni
www.authenticyoga.org |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
| Good points, Neel. Of course it is important to allow the healing to take place and rest the area until it is safe to work with it again. It is ok to keep an injury moving a certain amount ("active healing" is perhaps a good term) to avoid having it heal in a "frozen" state, but not to begin to rebuild by gently stressing the area until it is ready for it.
So Tom, is this a brand new injury or are you moving into the rehab phase and looking to build strength again in the injured area? |
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| Hey Tourist:
Either being actively inactive or inactively active, both would work. But, do not be actively active.
Otherwise, healing will be inactively inactive.
Neel Kulkarni
www.authenticyoga.org |
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| I also have a shoulder injury, that occured several weeks ago. I went to a conventional orthopedic dr. about it, and he said i have tendonitis. I disagree.
I really know my body and i believe i injured it either opening a window, or doing very aggresive sun salutations with full chaturanga Dandasana which i felt fine doing, but i think it caused soreness, and i may have unknowingly injured my left shoulder and kept doing them, and it made it much worse.
I am in the healing process now, didn't do yoga for a week 1/2 to two weeks, and now i'm doing slow, restoritive type yoga, being very gentle with my body and then applying ice for 15-20 min. afterwards. it has really seemed to be helping! It's an encouragement.
I think for injuries with your shoulder, restorative is the best because you really need to be gentle with yourself, listen to your body, and give it what it needs to heal. I did a lot of childs pose, and any gentle shoulder stretches.....etc. till i could work up into sun salutations and trikonasana and such.
Patience is key here, but can be frustrating if you don't embrace the real yoga principles of really listening to your body. Sometimes it's easy to get off track of that and get dissapointed because we can't do some of the more advanced postures we could do before our injury. I have been in that place, and now have re-focused on whats important.
The real joy of yoga, and loving myself wherever i am right now.
Namaste! |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 5098
Location: Somewhere in the Mountains of Western NC | Hey Pinupyogi,
I too hurt my shoulder a couple of weeks ago. Yodha, my dog, came up to me shaking himself while soaking wet and I went into a forced backband onto my rose bushes - OUCH!! It was interesting how I immediately used my left arm to break my fall and I really feel having a yoga practice helps - my injuries are barely noticed..but, I did take the time to let my shoulder and arm muscle heal. The cool thing is when the injury is happening, you somehow feel so much lighter like a bouncing ball. Even though this particular time was not a bad injury, it was enough to allow me to say - REST. Instead, I've been doing lots of hiking...yesterday I hiked a mountain straight up, 3.4 miles at 5,400 feet and then back down the steep terrain, same distance. I know my Bikram/Hot yoga practice contributes to my capabilites of being able to hike mountains and long distance walking. Also whenever I do something stupid like backing into my rose bushes, 
For what's it worth, I never put ice on my injuries, I use heat with much better results. I use ice for injuries with swelling bumps, like forehead injuries seem to respond better with ice for me. I'm not real crazy about cold, but love Hot. |
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| Cyndi,
Thanks for the input about the ice.
I have had a lot of inflammation in my shoulder so i chose ice, because it really helps with inflammation. I also use a deep tissue oil made my American Botanical Pharmacy, that is wonderful! i feel it's been a huge aid in my healing thus far.
Namaste! |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 5098
Location: Somewhere in the Mountains of Western NC | Pinupyogi,
I'm interested in the ingredients in the oil you mentioned. My husband insisted on putting warm Mustard Oil with sauteed` Methi (Fenugreek seeds) and Tumeric on me once - UGH!!. I let him and it ruined my clothes, but boy did it do the trick. I sometimes use Arnica cream, but don't find much benefit with it as much as I do Tiger Balm. However, I'm always looking for something better to try. Where do you get this deep tissue oil from? |
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| well,being the person that in its own time sprained my each shoulder for at
least 8 times, I know what are you going through.I was so good at it that when
I sprained it at some later times,I usually didnt even go to the doctor,I would
put it back in the place by myself =) The first thing is the already mentioned rest
here. It should last for about minimum 1-1,5 week, or if you want to play it
really safe,give it whole full 2 weeks. You can also use cold or heat,more a
matter of the personal preference, and its a smart thing to compress the
shoulder with some sort of the bandage ,or if you dont really feel like wearing
it like myself,just tend to hold your hand in L position,sticked to your chest
whenever you can,especially when laying down. after the 1,5-2 weeks have
passed, move on to lifting the weights. The ideal are those from 4-6 pounds.You
can do it with one or both arms,whichever way you prefer it
The excercises are as followed
1. Put the weight in your hand ,and lift it to your side . -I- . So like "I" is your
body,and "-" are your arms sticking to the sides. It is said that the best effect is
to have 90 degrees angle between arms and the body. Now ,just hold weight in this
position ,slightly bending the arms and not making them all straight, till you feel
you cant take it anymore,bringing your arms slowly down. Repeat it the number
of times based on your own judgment. This is passive strength training,and you
can also do active,where you do the same thing,but not holding it as much as
you can ,but just lifting weight up&down for a very large number of times. But i
prefer more passive ones,my experiance is that they work better
2. Second one is the same as first ,with the difference that you dont put your
arms to the side,but right in front of you.
So do this on every occasion you get,and from personal experiance can tell
you that it helps.Swimming is also great for strengthening shoulders and rotators.
And when you do strengthen them to the level of comfort,yoga is a great way to
also help you in that process. I had shoulder problems for at least 4 yours ,coming
and going,and from when I started doing yoga,also combined with the swimming and mentioned excercises I did before I attended yoga,havent had any sprained shoulder
since.
But if you havent strenghtened them to the certain level already,stick with
weights better,or avoid some shoulder-challenging asanas,which is a bit hard
cause a large number of them is based on stressing the shoulders. Docs say it
takes at least 6 months for a shoulder with torn rotator cuffs to return fully to its
previous state,and if you dont take it slow,it could bug you for the rest of your life,
only one wrong movement,twitch or the hand dropped in a wrong way could result
in spraining the shoulder again. Dont let that happen,and take it slowly but firmly,
rebuilding the muscle and ligaments around the rotator cuff,not letting the shoulder
bone slip out again.
Good luck
Edited by LNP20 2006-06-09 11:58 PM
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| Hi,
I too have very painful "tendonitis" in my shoulder and have gone for physiotherapy but I keep re-injuring myself almost daily, slipping on ice and flinging my arm in the air or my dog suddenly tugging my arm while on his leash owww!
This all started because I wanted to be stronger to get more out of Yoga so I tried some repetititve weight bearing exercises sheesh!
I was told I had to do some passive stretching so my shoulder wouldn't freeze up but it keeps getting more and more painful, I finally started taking some anti-inflamatory pills yesterday and the pain is better. Should I do very gentle stretching or not move at all and risk locking my shoulder? Maybe that's supposed to happen as part of the healing process?
I do feel the need to stretch the general area (upper back and shoulder area), just bending over and hanging my arms from the waist down feels so good. also tried the Tiger Balm, it felt good too.  |
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rehab shoulder injury
