Many people who practice and enjoy yoga are naturally flexible. But should you modify your yoga practice if you have yoga hypermobility syndrome? This post will help you determine if you have yoga hypermobility syndrome and steps you can take to modify your yoga poses to make them safer.
Yoga Hypermobility Syndrome
Yoga hypermobility syndrome is an important, but often overlooked, health concern with yoga practitioners. Here are my suggestions:
- Determine if you have yoga hypermobilty syndrome by taking the hypermobility test.
- Ask a qualified health practitioner (such as a Physiotherapist) or yoga instructor to evaluate your poses and look for hyperextension of joints.
- If you do not have access to someone with an experienced eye, do your poses in front of the mirror and pay attention to your joints.
- Be on the lookout for hypermobile knees and hypermobile elbows.
- Avoid “carrying” your hypermobility into your day-to-day movements and activities.
- Refer to Yoga for Better Bones to see if there are poses that you should modify or avoid; especially if you are concerned about your bone health and osteoporosis.
Hypermobility Test and Exercises
You can learn about the hypermobility test in a blog post I wrote earlier this year. In another blog, I speak about hypermobility exercises and suggest specific modifications you should make to your exercise routine if you have hypermobility syndrome.
Hypermobility syndrome is something I first noticed when I was in my yoga teacher training and I still see it every week when I teach my yoga.
Hypermobility and Yoga Practitioners
I find that people who love yoga, tend to be people who are already more flexible than the average, so they have Yoga Hypermobility Syndrome.
They love to stretch. This makes them feel good, but they are not always the ones that need to stretch.
If you have yoga hypermobility syndrome (visit my other blog article to find out more about hypermobility syndrome and the hypermobility test), it’s critical that you really assess if you have hypermobile joints. However, that can be difficult for you because you have a harder time feeling where your joints are.
In my yoga class, I specifically ask the students to try to maintain a certain pose in their elbows or in their knees. In certain positions and in certain poses I notice its it’s very challenging for them to maintain the pose without seeing hypermobile elbows or hypermobile knees.
Your Yoga Poses and Hypermobility
You may have to breakdown your poses in order to understand the mechanics of your positions. Be mindful, work with a mirror, or have a friend or a teacher coach review your pose so that you learn the safe positions for your joints.
Hypermobile Elbows
Consider the table pose. If you’re always locking out on your elbows, then you’re putting your elbows at risk of hypermobile elbows. You’re hyper extending that joint constantly.
Hypermobile Knees
You see hyperextension of the knees (hypermobile knees) in poses such as the dancers pose. People take that hyperextension of their knees (hypermobile knee) and carry it through in their day to day life. They are just always “hanging out” with their knees bent backward — constantly hanging on (and stressing) their ligaments.
Pay Attention to Shoulder Alignment
Be mindful of poses that stress your shoulders. I wrote a blog article on shoulder alignment and Yoga that you might want to read.
How to Safely Practice Yoga
Although this blog post is dedicated to yoga hypermobility syndrome, there are further considerations for yoga practitioners with osteoporosis, osteopenia or low bone density.
I encourage you to read Yoga for Better Bones to learn about poses that you should modify or avoid if your have low bone density.
Yin Yoga Hypermobility
You can also check out the bone safe Yin Yoga routine for my patients and readers. This practice will help you avoid any risks that occur during Yin yoga.
Exercise and Osteoporosis
Exercise is an essential ingredient to bone health. If you have osteoporosis, therapeutic exercise needs to be part of your osteoporosis treatment program.
But what exercises should you do and which ones should you avoid? What exercises build bone and which ones reduce your chance of a fracture? Is Yoga good for your bones? Who should you trust when it comes to exercises for osteoporosis?
A great resource on exercise and osteoporosis is my free, seven day email course called Exercise Recommendations for Osteoporosis. After you provide your email address, you will receive seven consecutive online educational videos on bone health — one lesson each day. You can look at the videos at anytime and as often as you like.
I cover important topics related to osteoporosis exercise including:
- Can exercise reverse osteoporosis?
- Stop the stoop — how to avoid kyphosis and rounded shoulders.
- Key components of an osteoporosis exercise program.
- Key principles of bone building.
- Exercises you should avoid if you have osteoporosis.
- Yoga and osteoporosis — should you practice yoga if you have osteoporosis?
- Core strength and osteoporosis — why is core strength important if you have osteoporosis?
Enter your email address and I will start you on this free course. I do not SPAM or share your email address (or any information) with third parties. You can unsubscribe from my mail list at any time.
Conclusion
You practice yoga to make your quality of life better, to make your body stronger, to help you with stress reduction. But for many of you, your yoga practice could be counterproductive. You could be experiencing yoga hypermobility syndrome and not supporting your joints and muscles correctly.
I encourage you to practice safely and to seek out appropriate healthcare practitioners or yoga instructors to guide you through safe practice.
Margaret Martin
Further Readings
Joint Health
Visit my page dedicated to Joint Health.
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