If you’re looking for ways to help ease some of the aches and pains that you’re starting to feel as you age then don’t worry, yoga for pain relief is the right place.
Whether you’re experiencing knee pain or you’ve been diagnosed with sciatica, yoga has been proven to be a great way of relieving pain. From beginner lessons to advanced classes, we have something for absolutely everyone.
If you’re interested in practising yoga and how it can help with muscle tension, the below information is a great place to start.
What is Yoga?
For those of you that don’t know, yoga is an ancient form of exercise that was created to help you focus on your strength, flexibility and breathing and as a result, it boosts your physical and mental wellbeing.
The main components of practising yoga are postures – a series of different movements and yoga poses that are designed to increase both your strength and flexibility – and breathing.
Why Is Yoga Important?
Yoga teaches us the knowledge you need to lead a healthy life, making it incredibly important for those that want to lead a positive lifestyle. By helping to improve your concentration, creativity and memory, yoga can help shape who you are.
Yoga for Pain Relief Exercises – Sample Video
This video will give you and idea of the yoga for pain relief streches.
Mobility and flexibility exercises to keep us active and fit.
What Benefits Can Yoga Bring?
Speaking of the benefits yoga can bring, there are lots of reasons you should consider getting involved, no matter your age.
- It can improve your flexibility and mobility – One of the best things about yoga is that you don’t have to be super flexible to be able to do yoga poses. This means that essentially, it can be practised at all levels of ability. A few minutes a day taking part in yoga sessions can improve your flexibility, helping with long-term pain relief.
- It helps you have better all-around fitness – yoga is a great way to stretch and strengthen your muscles as it gives you all that a gym can, but in a peaceful, safe and more holistic way. With aspects of cardio and strength training all in one, yoga is something that can be done at your own pace, even in a class.
- It can aid weight loss – if you’re looking to lose a little bit of weight, everyday yoga practice can help fuel your metabolic system, causing you to burn fat and lose weight.
- It can help you to build strength – although people often think it’s the only way to build strength, weight training is not your only choice as yoga is a great alternative for those that are not able to use a gym due to their chronic pain. Daily yoga practice can help stretch and strengthen your body muscles, especially if you’re taking part in yoga for pain relief.
- It can increase your energy – if you’re in need of a little bit of an energy boost to start your day, just a few minutes of yoga be enough to get you kick-started. With breathing exercises that are designed to help you wake up, you can be sure you’re starting your day (or afternoon) off right.
- It helps you when it comes to the correct posture – Daily yoga helps improve your posture, making you walk taller and sit up straighter at your desk. Aches and pains caused by incorrect body posture such as back pain can also be alleviated.
- It will help you sleep better – if you’re struggling with stress and it’s keeping you awake at night, you may want to consider regular yoga classes as studies have shown that practising daily yoga can help to reduce insomnia.
- Yoga can support your immune system – although it may not be the first things you think of, yoga is also known to help calm the nervous system, meaning it can calm chronic inflammation and chronic pain in the body by lowering the level of pro-inflammatory markers.
- It can help with happiness – A recent study has shown that attending regular yoga classes results in higher serotonin levels, meaning you’re going to be much happier after a class than if you weren’t attending.
Why Should You Attend Classes?
Whether you’re a beginner or you find it easier to stay motivated in a yoga class when you’re with friends, there are lots of incredible reasons to consider attending one of our classes. If you’re unsure, you’re always welcome to get in touch with John to see if they’re the best option for you.
If you want to know how yoga can help with chronic pain, including the following various different conditions, we’ve gone into a little more detail below.
Yoga For Sciatica Pain
Sciatica can be a real pain in the butt. Sciatica symptoms can be caused by compression of the sciatic nerve as it runs through the pelvis adjacent or sometimes through the piriformis muscle. Sometimes the pain is localized in the butt, although it can manifest in different ways all the way down to the toes due to the branching nature of one of the sciatic nerves. A series of poses are provided and can be done either standing or seated depending on the mobility of the person.
Yoga For Neck Pain
An area where we can visually see the structure and posture of a person is in the way they hold the neck and head. If the neck is jutted forward and in front and the shoulders are rounded we can likely assume there is tension, tightness and pain in the neck and upper body.
At Fitness4fun classes every class combines a series of neck stretches, much of the body’s tension settles into the neck and spine. Offering neck movements will vary based on the client, for instance, desk worker’s can have chronic neck pain and muscle tension from static positons at their computer while Senior’s might have osteoarthritis in their cervical spine and very limited movement in various directions
Yoga For Hip Pain
The hips are one of the largest joints in the body. Exercises are offered to cater for clients recovering from surgery and for those preparing for surgery. The main areas we focus on in the exercises are strength in the hip joint is important, to maintaining balance and posture, improving flexibility by keeping the muscle around the hip flexible, strengthen the muscle supporting the hip joint, increase the strength and quality of the bones and encourage mobility of the joint.
Yoga For Calf Muscle Pain
Tight calf muscles contribute to decreased ankle mobility, over pronation and reduced circulation. The calf muscle has a special ability as it sometimes referred to as the “ second heart “ because when it contracts it helps pump blood upwards in order to aid the heart in circulation.
Standing and seated poses and stretches are offered helping relieve tight calf’s leading to improved ankle mobility, reduction in cramps and improved circulation
Yoga For Lower Back Pain
A series of Yoga Poses and exercises for the lower back are done through a process of Yoga Therapy combined with the role of the breath. Poses are modified to encourage strengthening the musculature of the Lower Back.
The correct use of Yoga Therapy greatly helps Scoliosis, spinal curvature imbalance, lumbar disc damage, herniated disc, si joint displacement and Osteoarthritis.
Yoga For Glute Pain
People who spend an excessive amount of time seated tend to have tight overactive hip flexors and lengthened inhibited glutes. If left unchecked, this imbalance will result in lower back, hip and knee pain, therefore we include hip flexor stretching and glute strengthening in all classes.
Keeping the glutes strong is extremely important in the prevention of lower back, hip and knee dysfunction.
Yoga For Knee Pain
Up to 1/3 of clients attending Chair Yoga classes had knee replacements. This is something we are going to run into more and more. The number is rising – and it’s expected to continue rising- in large because a generation of baby boomers sits steadfastly at middle age.
Each class contains strength and stretch exercises strengthening the muscles of the thighs and improving the stability of the knee joint.
Yoga For The Upper Back
For people presently working in an office environment or for those who have worked in such an environment throughout their careers injuries are common in the upper back, shoulder and neck area. 25 – 35% of the day is spent in front of a screen leading to a lot of posture issues. Various yoga stretches both seated and standing are provided to ensure full range of motion in the musculature of the affected areas.
Check Out Our Online Classes
If you’re interested in any of this and you want to learn more about taking part in some yoga for pain relief classes, you should get in touch today. Here at Fitness4Fun, we’re passionate about helping seniors get active and enjoy the benefits that comes with doing so. And it’s so easy to get started.
At the moment because of the Covid-19 situation, we’re offering online classes for seniors, meaning you can easily take part from the comfort of your own home and you don’t need to worry about coming into contact with other people. In the future, when it’s safe to do so, we’ll return to offering in person yoga for pain relief classes too.