The challenge as we age is to exercise in a way that doesn’t contribute to bone fractures or have a negative effect on our joints. Regular forms of high-impact, weight-bearing exercise, such as jogging and other sports, are known to stimulate the cells that build bone. Unfortunately, over time, such forms of movement often contribute to joint destruction that can result in hip and knee replacements.
Recent studies report that yoga improves the actual congruence of the joints, undoing (reversing) the wear and tear that is responsible for osteoarthritis. Non-impact, non-weight-bearing exercises like swimming won’t wear down your joints, but they won’t strengthen your bones either. The good news is that a balanced yoga practice can give you all the positive benefits of weight-bearing exercise without the negative wear and tear on your joints!
Yoga is the ideal exercise prescription for osteoporosis prevention, for those already at risk, and for bone regeneration. The 206 bones of the human body live, breathe and change tissue that requires a constant supply of blood and nutrients and a flow of energy or prana. Yoga poses, in addition to providing a superior form of weight-bearing exercise that stimulates your bones to retain calcium, also help stimulate and distribute the flow of synovial fluid, which lubricates the joints between your bones.
Jogging, dancing, lifting weights, racket sports and other forms of exercise, although they strengthen the bones, can cause further imbalance in the muscular system. On the contrary, yoga postures balance the muscular system while strengthening the bones. When the muscular system is balanced, the skeletal system realigns itself, reducing the risk of wasting conditions like osteoarthritis.
10 reasons why yoga strengthens bones better at any age
1. In yoga, the weight is born through the entire body. In weight-bearing standing poses, inverted poses, and partially inverted poses such as downward-facing dog, active backbends, and various arm balances, weight is systematically applied to the bones of the hands, wrists, arms, upper body, neck and head. , and feet and legs.
2. Because yoga poses are learned gradually, the weight applied to the bones increases safely and incrementally as the student becomes stronger and can hold the poses for longer periods.
3. While building strength, yoga poses simultaneously promote mobility in the hips and shoulders, eliminate stiffness in the joints, and add flexibility to the entire body.
4. Standing postures and other postures that require one to strongly engage the bones and muscles of the legs affect the pelvis and spine. This increases circulation and benefits the health of the entire body.
5. Yoga prevents and can even reverse the most visible and obvious symptom of osteoporosis and aging: the rounding of the spine. Yoga postures encourage concavity of the spine, rather than a convex hump shape. Loss of height is not always the result of bone loss. Years of poor posture and lack of stretching can also make us shorter than we once were. Some height loss results from narrowing of the spaces between the vertebral discs, even when bone density is good. Yoga helps keep the space between the vertebrae open, plump and flexible.
6. Bearing weight through the arms and upper spine in poses like Downward Facing Dog and Handstands and other weight-bearing inversions keep the upper spine strong. The upper-body weight-bearing poses of yoga are particularly beneficial in preventing hairline fractures in the vertebrae that result in the curvature of the upper back common in older people.
7. While other weight-bearing exercises strain the body and wear out the joints, yoga increases flexibility and “lubricates” the joints by giving them an internal massage.
8. Seated poses help keep your hip joints healthy by requiring a wide range of motion that increases mobility.
9. Yoga postures also have a balancing effect on the endocrine glands, which contributes to the formation of strong and healthy bones. Restorative yoga poses, such as Wall Legs Pose, replenish the adrenal glands, reducing stress levels and inhibiting excess calcium secretion. Supported backbends, which can be as gentle as restorative poses such as lying on a cushion, or more intense such as using a chair or backbend for support, promote deep relaxation and restore endocrine health .
10. Yoga improves balance and coordination, helping to prevent falls. The agility and flexibility derived from a range of motion help us maintain balance and avoid falls.