This entry was posted on Dec 21, 2023 by Charlotte Bell.
Who doesn’t love a great spinal twist? For most individuals, rotating the backbone feels refreshing. Except for twisting to the precise to look behind us whereas we again our automobiles up or change lanes, we don’t rotate our spines loads in our day by day lives. That may very well be why twisting feels so good. However twisting in yoga will be perilous for the SI joint if we don’t apply with each care and data. A number 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 realized from a mess of yoga academics that holding 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 side joints come collectively in such a approach that the lumbar backbone is simply able to about 1 to three levels of rotation. That’s about 2 to 4 millimeters. So once we attempt to pressure the lumbar backbone to rotate, we are able to as an alternative find yourself rotating the sacrum. This will result in SI joint dysfunction.
How one can Maintain the SI Joint Secure in Seated Twists
In case you are having signs of SI joint dysfunction, your greatest guess 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 that tip for holding the joint secure and wholesome. The next instance explains the way to maintain your SI joint secure in Parvrtta Sukhasana (Rotated Straightforward Seated Pose).
- Sit in Sukhasana (Straightforward Pose) on a folded yoga blanket in order that your hips are greater than your ankles.
- Rotate your torso to the precise. As you rotate, you’ll seemingly really feel the precise facet of your pelvis eager to scoot again as nicely. As a substitute of resisting this, let the precise 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.
Practising easy twists on this approach can assist you keep away from SI joint issues sooner or later. This adjustment will be utilized to all seated twists.
It’s necessary 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 vulnerable to dysfunction. So it’s best to apply 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 educating in 1986. Charlotte is the writer of Aware Yoga, Aware Life: A Information for On a regular basis Observe and Yoga for Meditators, each printed by Rodmell Press. Her third guide 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.
