The Madness and the Method: Joint Pain, Yoga, & You

Let’s start at the beginning. What is joint pain and what causes it? Joint pain is defined as any pain, discomfort, or inflammation that affects any part of a joint.


Joints are not limited to bone but also include cartilage, muscles, tendons, and ligaments. Most of the time, joint pain is often associated with arthritis which is inflammation of the joint.


Joint pain varies from person to person on the pain scale. It can be mild or severe, acute or chronic. Acute pain is pain that only lasts for a short amount of time, whereas chronic pain is consistent or ongoing.


There are many causes of joint pain. The most common is arthritis. Arthritis is broken up into two main categories, osteoarthritis and rheumatoid. One is caused by the wear-and-tear of the cartilage that protects your joints, the other is a little more aggressive where the immune system attacks the lining of the joint. Other causes of joint pain can be autoimmune diseases or an accident which caused trauma to one or more parts of your body.


Okay, enough with the science behind joint pain, how can we help? How can those of us suffering from joint pain, be it acute or chronic, find relief. Among the ways of treatment for joint pain, one that doesn’t involve medicinal measures or doctors visits is yoga! With a little bit of yoga, you can help your joints a lot.


Not only is yoga said to help the physical pain, it also soothes the emotional pain. Having pain and not being able to do the things you were once able to do agony free can take a toll on one’s mental health. Being able to get up and move releases endorphins from your brain into the rest of your body giving you that feel good, well, feeling! The more you move and the more you’re able to exercise your mind and body together, the better off you are with your mental health in the long run.


When it comes to the science behind how exercise helps relieve joint paint, some movements are better than others. Since yoga is an exercise that targets all parts ofthe body, fluid, blood and nutrients are able to reach all nooks and crannies of our bones, muscles, and cartilage, which are all affected by joint pain. The more you can target every corner of your body, the better.


One of the symptoms of joint pain is stiffness is the joints, which causes pain. By being able to get on your mat and flow, you’re breaking up scar tissue, you’re breaking up stiffness, and, ultimately, you’re shaking out the stiffness.


When you first start your practice, you may still notice stiffness or discomfort. As you move through your flow, however, check in with your body, is your knee that was locked up when you first stepped on your mat still locked? Is the ache in your neck subsided? The more you practice, the more you’ll find relief from your joint pain. Both mentally and physically.


We stand behind the benefits of yoga because we’ve seen it heal. We’ve seen those who never thought they would touch their toes be able to fold in half. We’ve seen yogis with tight hips due to an injury be able to release into pigeon pose. It’s not a practice that heals overnight. I challenge you to practice three days out of the week and see how you feel, both mentally and physically. Check in with all parts of your being after you’ve completed your practice and see how you feel! It may not be JUST the yoga, but the yoga sure helps.


Namaste.

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