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in reply to: Shoulder injury still #9950
Hi Beverly
Thanks for being patient. OK, for ease I am putting what you wrote in here so that we don’t have to go back and forth:
I hurt my left shoulder a couple of months ago attempting to do floor bow. Before I tell you about that particular injury, let me tell you the entire history of that arm.
The day before my 13th birthday I broke my left arm just below the shoulder. It wasn’t a complete fracture, so they immobilized my arm by tying it to my body with an ace bandage and stuck it in a sling. About a month later we moved about 2000 miles from Tennessee back home to California. As a result (an perhaps because it was the 70s) I never got proper physical therapy on that arm.
I also have tendonitis in my left wrist which I got from hefting 9 & 10 lb newborns.
Fast forward 30+ years to January. I somehow injured my left knee so badly I could barely walk. While I was waiting to see the orthopedic surgeon, I went to see a chiropractor who specializes in extremities to help manage the pain. As well as adjusting my knee, he recommended going to hot yoga to rehab the knee. I started doing hot Hatha in February, and I’ve been doing it about 3x per week since then. However, I did not do floor bow because of my shoulder.
One day, I decided to give it a go and it hurt really badly, so I decided I shouldn’t be doing the pose. Then a couple of months ago I went to class and I was feeling particularly strong, so I decided to try again. I pulled my triceps so badly, that I spend the rest of class crying and trying not to scream out in pain. By the end of class the pain went from my neck down to my wrist. Immediately I went to see the chiropractor and he’s been working on it ever since. He says I can come every three weeks, but I come a lot more often than that. He showed me how to adapt some of the poses so they’re not so painful. The last few weeks I’ve been doing the poses normally.
This week, however it seems to have gotten worse. I can hardly get through half moon before that arm starts hurting. Even having my arm at parallel while doing the warrior poses is excruciating. Today having my arm in front of me during unsteady hurt and I had to put them down between parts of that pose. I’ve ended up laying on my mat for most of the class because of the pain.
So, I’m wondering what to do that will not strain that arm and rehab it during hot yoga. If I’m not in class at least twice a week, my knee starts hurting.
And now, I think I feel some questions coming on! 😉
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Hot yoga causing high blood pressure #9949Hi John
When you said you follow my instructions regarding hydration can you tell me what you actually do? I never checked in on that. Sorry ’bout that, chief!
I am sure we’ll find the answer for you. Hopefully it will be inspiring (rather than that lonely home practice!).
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Hot yoga causing high blood pressure #9946Hi John
What a glowing review for Sara. I am so thrilled for her and you! (blushing)
When you hydrate: Is it just plain water?
Now as for the BP. Taking BP is not always reliable. There are so many factors as you can see. The reliability of the equipment then there are all the factors that could be causing different readings. Sometimes the anxiety of the test itself can create false readings. You have probably heard of white coat syndrome!
So, John, have you decided that you’ll continue the yoga for a while at home? Perhaps heating your room to less high levels?
Is that something that appeals? Once you start home practice it is just as rewarding as going to a public studio.
I can promise you there are greater advantages to heating the room well (reasonable and effective levels) than just going to a super-heated public class or opting for an ambient temperature room. Perhaps in more controllable conditions you can continue to thrive and keep checking your BP too. You can really see if excessive heat and humidity is the problem.
I am sure you’ll find by looking around the forum that you can play with the temperature conditions. In short: Buy a good humidifier and then you can heat the room to mid 30s (celsius of course ;)) and get all the benefits you desire – especially that one about feeling great
Let me know what you think
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂Hi Megan
Let me ask you to confirm that it is not muscular pain in the arm then! 😉
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: 60 day challenge and discomfort. #9941Hi Guillermo
Well you definitely need a day per week to recover. In my opinion some change in your practise technique and if you continue to feel that issue (especially if you feel pain outside of yoga class) then you MAY need to see somebody for what could be an injury requiring hands on attention. Let me know and we can go down that track. But first rest for a day (or if you think you need it 2 or 3, whatever you need). Then get back to yoga.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Hot yoga causing high blood pressure #9938Hi John
An intriguing issue for sure. High heat usually lowers blood pressure. Is it possible that there are other issues in your life that could have caused the increase?
What are the symptoms you have experienced with this increase? If there are none then it could be transient (or from an as yet unknown cause). Let me know before I start ‘what if-ing’ :cheese:
How many times was the BP been measured when it ‘stayed high’ for those several days? Who measured it, how and under what conditions?
120 as systolic reading is still below that which would be considered minimum SBP for your age. So unless there’s a real physiological reason why you would give up your yoga then I would think of doing one or more of the following: Drop the worry, continue to monitor, continue to do hot yoga, make sure you are not in too hot/too humid conditions that cause any signs of heat exhaustion and so on … (you would do well to Google heat exhaustion so that you’re clear if it ever happens to you)
I would be wary of any health adviser who tells you to stop hot yoga because mostly (and not always) they come from a standpoint of ignorance and fear. For most people in any arena if something is not understood then the adviser usually advises against the said activity, whatever it is.
If you can answer my questions we can see if there’s any reason to stop. You didn’t mention whether your doctor was investigating any other cause of increased SBP. Still, if the reading has stabilised then it is possible it was just one of those things. If not, then investigations may be warranted that may have nothing to do with your yoga practice!
Looking forward to your reply
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: No period when doing challenge? #9936Hi Anna
I was just going to check in with you and I realised I don’t know if you do challenges which are 30 days straight or with 1 day off per week. Let me know please
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: BPPV and vertigo #9935Hi Sooner
Are you still doing the yoga? How about that sensation of vertigo? Get back to me. Apologies for the delay.
Was the sensation a one-off? It’s hard to know about whether something will happen again if there is no pattern established
I will look out for your reply
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂Hi Megan
Thanks for the post. You are very aware of what’s going on. I liked your analogy of the tupperware lid! 😆
OK, so I have to say yes, you’re doing it right. I was a bit alarmed by the ‘arm screaming’ phrase. I would like to know if you are experiencing pain there. Perhaps you could let me know.
When you get the leg up high and you press the leg back then the shoulder gets pulled back and then when you push the hip down the are reseats a little into the shoulder socket. And then voila, you have to go through the process again. It really doesn’t stop. There is no real end point.
Here’s what I would like you to try: Stop holding onto your ankle or shin. Start holding onto your foot around the arch area. I am positive you are going to find more strength and opening when you do that. You will find a new challenge and I just know you’ll find that you have more ability to get that hip into the position you’re after. I always do the pose this way now. It gives me a lot more.
Try it and get back to me. The idea of getting into the standing splits is just aesthetic. You can do more than that. The satisfaction you’ll get back by holding at the foot will really be great. Oh, there may be a few moments where you wonder if it’s the same pose! Ha. Let me know how you go
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: pain during stretch #9933Hi Denise
I have been unable to get to the forum much for a while. My apologies. Please tell me where you’re at with this pose now.
Can you tell me if there are any other poses you feel this problem?
When you say you feel restricted can you tell me what you mean?
When you are in the pose is your back straight? Where are your elbows? Bent, straight? I just need a little more information. If it’s been solved with time, let me know that too. Where do you feel the stretch when you have your legs straight? In that right leg?
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Left Hip Pain #9931Hi Cristy
I have had good reason not to be active on the forum so please would you simply update me with your issue?
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Back pain & tightness since starting Bikram #9930Hi Joni
Wow, a big delay.
OK, may I ask for an update?
In response to your last post way back when, I would like you to read up on the forum on how to support core strength, through sit ups. It’s a way to develop and keep a strong back while keeping well planted on the floor, not by swinging oneself up as is taught in a regular class (and causes lower back problems).
When you are in Triangle, do you feel that you are strong in that position? What I mean is, are you feeling as if you are falling towards the floor either towards that front foot, or forward, collapsing?
When you are in Tree in order to compensate for that abductor pain/strain do you feel that you have to compensate by increasing the lumbar curve (tending towards a ‘duck butt’ :cheese: )?
How are your forward bends now? Often with people with problematic L4/5 it’s hard to get IN to the pose but doing the pose itself and working the mechanism does work for them. So, Joni, just confirm it’s the entry but not the pose itself. If that’s the case then I can give you a great way to enter and exit the poses (and there are photos in my book) that will help you engage the best way of doing the poses without the risk on your lower back of entering and exiting.
Let me know
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: 60 day challenge and discomfort. #9929Hi Guillermo
47 in a row. Sounds like until recently you were making progress.
What a classic problem! I promise this happens ALL the time and it’s because the mechanics of the body are not understood by most. (And the ‘rules’ of challenges seem to have morphed into something more ego-driven that goes against the principle of yoga, more about that in the coming paragraphs).
The way you have been doing your yoga, the way you’ve been shown or are being taught is causing your problem. You seem to have developed signs of sciatica. Won’t set that one in stone because I haven’t asked you any questions yet but let’s move forward.
I am going to say this at the risk of offending people: I believe it is not right for anyone to tell you that the yoga is uncovering existing injury. While this is possible, it is unlikely. In my experience this person or these people do not know how to help you so they are giving you something that on the surface may sound plausible. It’s an excuse that usually covers up that they really don’t understand the workings of the body.
Beware, you are likely to hear ‘the yoga will fix it’. Once again erroneous advice which works for some things and not others AND is DEPENDENT on doing the yoga with best technique.
Your first port of call should be to look at the blog post Opening Up Your Hamstrings With Hot Yoga. Normally I will ask some questions to clarify what you’re doing.
However in your case we’ll leave that for today because you are exhibiting the CLASSIC problems that occur when the legs are straightened in certain poses in preference to a straight back or where you are not engaging the correct pose mechanisms to OPEN up the body.
Pulling length into your muscles is not helping you, it seems. Look, it is possible that we need to go back to questions in coming posts etc but for starters I just wanted to give you some info ASAP so you can start to help yourself.
The blog post above is very useful and I recommend looking at posts on proper sit-up technique, janushirasana (and particularly how to enter it), and standing sep leg intense stretch. Look at any poses where you have pain. There should not be pain (just discomfort, and a comfortable one at that, if you know what I mean) and there should not be strain or struggle. What you’re going through is a sign that you’re doing something wrong.
Let me know how you go every step of the way and I will lead you in the right direction to the best of my ability.
As another person has just asked me with a similar-ish issue, I answered her as I advise you, that you MUST take some time for your body to recover. These 60 day no rest challenges are not the way it is supposed to be. You are supposed to feel better not worse. You are supposed to take a day off per week.
Anyway, without further adieu I shall post this and look forward to hearing from you
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Is daily yoga healthy? #9924Hi Heidi
Thanks so much. Listening to your body is what it’s all about! It seems you intuitively know that and listened to those alarm bells. Phew!
To many people, ‘no pain no gain’ is where it’s at. That’s not yoga. Yoga is really more about this: where there’s hurt, pain, or struggle, there’s no growth (personal or physical). The funny thing is that you can still feel great despite the dangers. That’s the double edged sword of bikram yoga.
Let me know if you need any more help.
Have a great week
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Is daily yoga healthy? #9922Hi Heidi
I am about to go out for the day so I can’t answer this in detail yet. Please go hunt around the forum. You could use the word “challenge” in the search facility and see what comes up.
In a nutshell: I don’t believe in 30 and 60 day challenges that rely on going 30 and 60 times with no break or doubling up.
You MUST have rest and recovery in some way. A day off usually does that for others… but read on.
Also if you’re feeling pain and stiffness then I can tell you with great certainty that there are particular techniques that you are practising that are causing your body to tighten up, that are creating damage in your body.
This is usually a result of going to scripted classes where teachers use the dialog. I know I am going to get a lot of people’s noses out of joint by saying that but so be it.
Get back to me here and let me know if you have discovered some more here on this forum. There are particular poses and techniques that you will find will change that pain to the opening up AND strength that the yoga is supposed to create.
See you back here
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Heat Stroke Risks? #9918Hi Kathy
Thanks so much for posting, giving your feedback and expressing your concerns.
I believe that thousands of people are exposing themselves to unnecessary danger in MANY hot yoga rooms around the world.
While they don’t (or may not) have heat stroke, they have its less severe sister ‘heat exhaustion’. I know this by the many, many posts that I have received on this forum and the thousands of people whom I have met, and those who write to me personally, from around the world.
You’ll find reliable information about heat exhaustion and heat stroke online. I DO know what you’re saying though, where’s the information about how it works with hot yoga, the problems, the signs, the protocols and how to guard against it happening under your watch?
It is simply NOT true to say that hot yoga works for everybody and even more ridiculous to assume (as many people do) that ‘the hotter the better’. While people may not be collapsing in the studios so much that people see it’s a problem, they’re complaining of classic problems of heat illnesses. Some of the people who are most affected don’t come back to class, so it’s a matter of creating conditions that are good for everybody that chooses to come. It’s not a competition to see who can withstand the highest temperatures as many studios seem to believe.
Keep the heat (and heat index) at a reliable level. Know how heat and humidity combine to create conditions that can be even more risky. Work the heat and humidity to get that cleansing sweat and that feeling but don’t heat about that point.
Ensure, as you have been doing, that your students drink plenty of water, but PLEASE make sure they’re taking sea salt too, (or yes, they could also take expensive electrolytes). You want to avoid the problem of hyponatremia. Please go and find some information about heat exhaustion and hyponatremia and then see how much overlap these conditions have. Many people take too much water and not enough salt to balance it.
Most people listen to their doctors when they tell them to reduce salt in their diets. Unfortunately that misinformation is based on decades of clinical studies based on table salt (devoid of electrolytes beyond sodium and chloride). Your body NEEDS its electrolytes and so make sure you encourage sea salt use, on food, a dash in water, whatever. Get rid of table salt and NEVER consume that if you can help it.
In general terms most people need about 2.5 liters of water per day. Increase that by at least 1 liter and probably 1.5 when they do a class of hot yoga.
I think that your temp and humidity levels seem very acceptable and would be what I aim for generally speaking. Now, if you have the gauges in the room you’ll be able to make sure that neither value rises up too high. Just keep an eye on it during class. The higher your humidity the lower you can drop the temp, and vice versa.
I hope that helped you!
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Runny nose – Am I the only one? #9917Hi Heather and Wendy
Remember to take sufficient sea salt in your diet. As the salt acts as an antihistamine (along with water) you may find that this little thing helps you (especially if it is an allergic response). Wendy, I think the word you were after could be ‘habitual’! :cheese:
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Pain in neck from this pose #9906Hi Paula
When you try again, gently place your hands there. Also try placing them higher than you did to see if that’s better. No pressure forward (which I suspect may be the problem). You only go to the point where there is no pain.
Sounds as though however, what your body needs first is some rest. Sometimes yoga is not the answer (when things are acute).
Anyway, just popping this response in and will reread the entire thread in a day or 2 when I have more time.
Take it easy!
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Pain in neck from this pose #9904Hi Paula
Please try this. Overlap your fingers around the back of your neck. You could interlock them but my students find their fingers get squashed. You’ll basically create a sling with your hands! Your elbows will be above your chest and they should be able to come together. That’s your starting point.
Now inhale at the same time as winging your elbows out to the side (they do come up a bit) and keep your shoulders down the whole time, lift your sternum and feel the breath expand your lungs.
On the exhale, open the mouth (a little, as you would in ‘normal’ circumstances) and lift your chin as you allow your head to go back with your neck beautifully supported in against your fingers as your elbows travel back towards each other, touching in front of you. Remember shoulders down.
Then continue. Inhaling and exhaling. You will feel satisfied that you can get through the whole exercise without any neck pain. It’s a self-limiting exercise so you won’t have to try to work out what anyone means when they say “be careful” and “don’t go back so far”. Always be careful when someone asks you to do that because it’s not specific and has no instruction that you can actually follow.
This exercise will never feel as satisfying as the regular one simply because you can’t get as full a movement. Just know it’s a wonderful intermediate step. It’s FAR, FAR BETTER than just breathing without using the arms and head movement and it’s far better than skipping it all together.
In normal circumstances using this technique you can, as your neck feels better, start to allow your fingers less overlap, or keep the overlap and move them further down to the bottom of the neck. At first they will start higher towards the top of the neck so that you can perform the exercise without fear or pain allowing the neck to open up safely. As you improve you’ll find you can just move them down, even in the middle of a set.
Let me know how you go!
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Pain in neck from this pose #9900Hi Paula
I will try to find it in a day or 2! Or put some instructions together for you if I can’t!
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Had a bad summer: Need motivation #9896Hi Allison
One way to set yourself up for success is to actually pack everything you need for yoga and put it in the most appropriate place. Have 2 sets of clothing and 2 sets of yoga towels ready. One in the bag (next to the front door, in the car or wherever) and the other lot ready to place with your mat when you get home.
That way you’re good to go. The other thing is to have a proper plan. Don’t just say “I will go to yoga 3 times this week”. That is possibly not as powerful as “I will go to the 5:30 pm class this Monday and Thursday and the 8am class on Saturday”. Set it up and make it happen by being as specific as you can.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Pain in neck from this pose #9895Hi Paula
What specific tips did she give you to allow you to open up your neck safely without creating more damage?
I think that there is more to do than just tell you not to go back as far. It’s very hard to know where that point is (in a practical sense – because your body reacts: your neck muscles tend to tighten up the area due to unconscious fear that’s set up in backbends). So please take a look around at Pranayama threads because there is a modification you can do… I am pretty sure it’s already described in there.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Savasana on my stomach anxiety #9878Hi Heather
Can you tell me: Where is your visual focus when you are lying on your tummy? You may need to go to class to work that out (so if you have to guess, don’t, just report back). When you feel the anxiety, what happens? Do you feel nauseous, is it reflected in heart and breathing rate, can you feel palpitations? When does it stop? As soon as you get up off the floor? I am sure rationally you know there is no danger, so what else could you tell me about your inner workings?
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Bruised Knees #9877Hi Amelia
As an immediate help you may need something soft under your hips which doubles as a knee or ankle aid. A soft folded towel that you put across the hip area of your mat for when you lie down and then leave it there and position yourself on it for camel, rabbit and any other poses where you feel the pressure.
There is no problem with doing that. You could easily position a strip of folded towel (or a bit of cut yoga mat) there at the beginning of class, not stand on it, avoid it for the poses that it would cause an imbalance or asymmetry.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂in reply to: Arms over head aggravate neck/shoulder problem #9876Hi Claudia
The first thing I need to ask you is how is your stance generally. Are you countering a longstanding rounded upper back at all.
One thing at a time!
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂 -
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