Yoga For Bones & Osteoporosis
Yoga Is Weight Bearing, So It Helps Bones & Immune System.
Yoga Sequence For Strong Bones, & Osteoporosis Reduction.
Want yoga for osteoporosis near me, or similar classes? Then read on. When I first started yoga, I never associated yoga with bone health, or improving the immune system. Of course, I also knew nothing of a yoga sequence for strong bones.
So, in this post, I will first outline why yoga works for bone health, and helps prevent or manage osteoporosis. After that, I’ll move on to how the same processes help your immune system.
In addition, I’ll show you a set of yoga sequence for strong bones, including yoga poses for osteoporosis reduction.
First, remember that bone is living tissue in your body. Therefore, yoga is an exercise that builds and maintains healthy bones, via it’s impact on that living tissue.
When you do yoga regularly, your bones adapt to the forces placed on them. The result is that you both build more bone, and your bones become denser, and stronger.
In particular, you’re stressing your bones each time you exercise. It encourages bones to increase their calcium content and therefore grow denser.
As a result, you reduce the tendency to porous bones that you can see pictured in this post.
On the right, you can see the more porous nature of bones that exhibit osteoporosis. If you know you already have osteoporosis, consult with your teacher before doing classes. Among other things, they can advise on poses to avoid.
Consider starting with Gentle Yoga
The process I’m describing is helped by the many yoga postures that involve weight bearing. For example, consider what happens with standing poses, like in the picture immediately below.
If you’ve already done yoga, you know that standing poses are done regularly.
The good news is that yoga standing poses have proven to be incredibly effective in building a strong skeleton.
See any of the poses shown in this post, including the diagram with a sequence for strong bones.
But, if you know you have osteoporosis, tell your teacher. Depending on the severity, they may advise you to first do classes such as Flametree’s Gentle Yoga.
In general however, the Iyengar style of yoga at Flametree, with a focus on correct alignment and extension, will be suitable for those with osteoporosis.
Yoga for osteoporosis classes that everyone can do
Standing poses are fundamental to any yoga sequence for strong bones, and yoga poses for osteoporosis reduction.
Yoga involves weight bearing exercise.
You may also know that standing poses are a major part of most Iyengar yoga classes.
Standing poses are also of course done in other yoga styles. In the Iyengar style, however, they are usually held longer. Holding poses a way to build strength, and bone health.
Standing poses can also be done by jumping out into them. When you do this, you then also land with a medium impact on your bones.
Such impact is also good for bone health. (But, you can walk out if you have a knee or back problem).
I’ve already mentioned how standing poses are held positions. As well as that, another particularly effective aspect of Iyengar yoga is how your bones are strengthened through aligning each part of the body.
Alignment teaches you how to correctly stack up or align each part of the body. The outcome is that you get correct skeletal and muscular tension. One part of this is that your bones are “stacked” so that your weight is correctly carried through them. In turn, that again builds your bone strength and health.
Yoga classes for osteoporosis, strong bones, & more
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One leg and one arm is bearing your whole weight, thereby building bone strength. In addition, the posture is correctly aligned.
Aim to hold poses for as long as is comfortable.
Each standing pose can be held from 12 seconds to up to one minute.
When I first started yoga, I couldn`t hold poses for very long. I simply wasn`t strong enough. I also lacked the mental steadiness to stay in a pose, as well as to observe what was happening.
With practise, and introductory beginner poses that build up over time, you come to change all these limits.
So, I learnt to stay longer and to observe, or “watch”, my actions. In turn, I could then correct my posture so there was correct muscular and skeletal tension.
Although I didn’t realise it at the time, it was very important to learn to hold poses and pay attention to correct alignment. But, the more I learnt to do that, the more I could create the conditions to build strong bones.
In other words, I was also learning a yoga sequence for strong bones, including yoga poses for osteoporosis reduction.
“Attaching” muscles to bones correctly
It also takes practise to learn how to “attach” muscles onto bones so as to get correct muscular tension.
Attaching your muscles is just a term in yoga for having your muscles work correctly and fully in conjunction with your bones.
Among other things, muscle attachment involves your muscles flattening out along the bone, rather than bulking up.
All standing poses are excellent yoga for osteoporosis
Correct “attachment” is demonstrated by my right thigh. It’s flat and relaxed, rather than bulked. (It’s also why yoga gives you more of a long, lean look).
So, one important further outcome was that as I learnt to attach my muscles onto bones, I could then further strengthen my bones.
After that, I could move my bones and muscles safely into a huge range of movements.
As well as standing poses, there are also many other poses that involve weight bearing. For example, there are poses to strengthen arms, and strengthen the shoulder joints. Such poses include plank pose, side plank, handstand, and forearm balance.
In fact, to cut to the chase, bone yoga includes any and all of the poses in this yoga sequence for strong bones, including yoga poses for osteoporosis reduction.
Yoga for osteoporosis reduction or prevention
If you’re searching for yoga for osteoporosis near me, then Flametree’s many classes with these poses will give you your yoga sequence for strong bones.
Reduce risk via yoga for osteoporosis
Bones continue growing throughout adulthood. (Among other things, it’s why you can “grow” your bones back together if you accidentally break them).
The technical background is that the jumping into poses, the holding of standing poses, and bearing your body weight on your arms, physically stimulate your osteoblasts.
Osteoblasts are bone making cells that live inside your bones. So, in order to protect your bones, and prevent them from becoming frail, it is important to stimulate osteoblasts.
As we steadily age, bone fractures can happen as a result of a fall. It can happen even if later middle age, as your balance deteriorates.
Clearly, building muscle strength, and improving your balance through maintaining a yoga practice, will both slow the rate of bone loss, and reduce the risk of fractures.
There is also a further positive impact on your immune system. I’ll come to this in a moment.
Hip fractures, driven by osteoporosis, are a painful issue that you can likely avoid, if you do enough yoga.
Balancing poses also excellent for bones
Before I continue, I want to mention how balancing poses are weight bearing poses that work beautifully for what I’ve been outlining.
In addition to helping prevent falls, they bring awareness to even up the actions in both sides of your body.
For example, consider the well-known tree pose.
Tree pose is a balancing pose that strengthens ankles, shins, and knees, as well as hips on the right and left side of the body.
Standing on one leg is great yoga for strong bones
Tree Pose is first learnt against a wall.
Non weight bearing poses also help build new bones
Bones are also strengthened by other yoga poses.
For instance, a reclining pose, like reclining hand to big toe pose, also strengthens the bones of the legs.
In this pose, opposing groups of your muscles (hamstrings against quadriceps) “rub” against one another.
Consequently, this muscular interaction creates a force that stimulates your bone making cells. In other words, your osteoblast cells do more work for you.
A pose showing how opposing muscles work together for bone health.
Many of the poses I’m outlining will start improving your bone health immediately.
The skeletal and immune system have a complex relationship
Your skeletal and immune system are hugely interconnected.
Bone marrow is found in the interior walls of our bones. In turn, bone marrow is very important to the immune system.
All of your blood cells, including both T and B cells, originate in bone marrow.
B cells remain in the bone marrow to mature. But T cells travel to the thymus gland to do their job there.
In addition, in the bone marrow, red blood cells are produced to carry the oxygen that your body needs.
It’s also in the bone marrow that many different types of white blood cells are produced. We need these white blood cells to prevent and fight infection.
Moreover, platelets are produced in the bone marrow. These platelets help our blood clot.
All this demonstrates again how healthy bones, and healthy functions within them, are hugely important. Yoga helps your bones stay healthy and to do their job.
Key points about yoga and bone health
Studies have shown that weakened, frail bones, will reduce your body’s immune response.
Most importantly, as I’ve outlined, exercise via yoga, is vital to maintain bone health.
Yoga has proven itself to be safe, and very effective, both in keeping bones healthy, and keeping muscles strong and flexible.
As well as helping bone strength, yoga works on joint flexibility. Try Flametree’s yoga classes for osteoporosis, strong bones, & more.
For example, Loren Fishman, a medical doctor, in the book “Yoga for Arthritis”, makes the point that yoga has also proven to work with those suffering from arthritis.
But arthritis is just one more example of how yoga can maximise bone health.
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Flametree’s beginner class times
Each Flametree beginner class, or a beginner yoga online course, or in-studio versions in Darwin, Australia, are at the local time of Darwin, Australia (+9.30GMT).
At the beginner timetable, there is also a time zone converter which shows the times in your local time zone. (Look immediately under the timetable grid to see the local time zones.)
The classes are all standard, introductory hatha yoga poses.
There’s also special focus options, including Gentle Yoga, Yoga for Back (& Neck & Shoulders), and Easy Restorative Yoga.
Lifting your own weight is excellent yoga for osteoporosis
A handstand lifts your entire weight. Beginners start with preparatory versions.
HALF price deals for beginners & non-beginners
Flametree has a large timetable of LIVE online & in-studio classes.
There are convenient and large timetables for both beginners and non-beginners.
Beginner classes can be joined at any time.
Flametree teaches genuine, modern classical yoga that fully delivers all the many benefits of yoga.
Use one of the generous, introductory deals to give it a try. Please consider the deals at the links below.
Try Flametree’s yoga classes for osteoporosis, strong bones, & more
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Working against a wall is one way that beginners learn hand stands. Try yoga for osteoporosis and strong bones.
