This entry was posted on Dec 21, 2023 by Charlotte Bell.
Who doesn’t love spinal twist? For most individuals, rotating the backbone feels refreshing. Excluding twisting to the fitting to look behind us whereas we again our vehicles up or change lanes, we don’t rotate our spines loads in our every day lives. That might be why twisting feels so good. However twisting in yoga will be perilous for the SI joint if we don’t observe with each care and information. A couple of weeks in the past, I wrote about the significance of not squaring the hips in standing poses. The identical holds true for twisting.
A few years in the past, I discovered from a large number of yoga academics that conserving the hips squared in a seated twist helps rotate the lumbar backbone. That may make sense if the lumbar backbone was able to rotating. The very fact is, the aspect joints come collectively in such a method that the lumbar backbone is simply able to about 1 to three levels of rotation. That’s about 2 to 4 millimeters. So after we attempt to drive the lumbar backbone to rotate, we will as an alternative find yourself rotating the sacrum. This will result in SI joint dysfunction.
Tips on how to Preserve the SI Joint Protected in Seated Twists
In case you are having signs of SI joint dysfunction, your greatest wager is to keep away from twisting, at the very least till you begin to really feel higher. But when your SI joint is feeling okay, do this tip for conserving the joint steady and wholesome. The next instance explains how one can maintain your SI joint protected in Parvrtta Sukhasana (Rotated Straightforward Seated Pose).
- Sit in Sukhasana (Straightforward Pose) on a folded yoga blanket in order that your hips are increased than your ankles.
- Rotate your torso to the fitting. As you rotate, you’ll seemingly really feel the fitting facet of your pelvis desirous to scoot again as properly. As a substitute of resisting this, let the fitting facet of the pelvis scoot again. This retains the twist within the thoracic backbone, which is the a part of the backbone that’s designed to twist.
Training easy twists on this method can assist you keep away from SI joint issues sooner or later. This adjustment will be utilized to all seated twists.
It’s essential to keep away from twists the place you’re levering along with your arm when your SI joint is misplaced or in case your SI joint is liable to dysfunction. So it is best to observe any seated twist the place you’re putting your elbow on the skin of an upright, bent knee with care. As a substitute of putting your elbow on the skin of your knee, merely maintain the knee along with your hand.
About Charlotte Bell
Charlotte Bell found yoga in 1982 and started instructing in 1986. Charlotte is the writer of Aware Yoga, Aware Life: A Information for On a regular basis Apply and Yoga for Meditators, each printed by Rodmell Press. Her third e-book is titled Hip-Wholesome Asana: The Yoga Practitioner’s Information to Defending the Hips and Avoiding SI Joint Ache (Shambhala Publications). She writes a month-to-month column for CATALYST Journal and serves as editor for Yoga U On-line. Charlotte is a founding board member for GreenTREE Yoga, a non-profit that brings yoga to underserved populations. A lifelong musician, Charlotte performs oboe and English horn within the Salt Lake Symphony and people sextet Crimson Rock Rondo, whose DVD received two Emmy awards in 2010.
