How yoga helps prevent injury to athletes
How yoga helps prevent injury to athletes
Professional and amateur athletes alike worry about injuries that will interfere with their sport. For many athletes, a season-ending injury is their greatest concern. What causes most sports injuries? Leaving aside accidents, which can and do happen, most sports injuries come from these five main causes:
1. Lack of a careful warm-up
2. Quick motions and twisting motions that stress joints
3. Imbalance that trains one part of the body over others
4. Tightness of highly-trained muscles that lose flexibility
5. Overuse of the muscles
Yoga practice can help prevent injuries from the first four causes.
2. Quick motions and twisting motions that stress joints
3. Imbalance that trains one part of the body over others
4. Tightness of highly-trained muscles that lose flexibility
5. Overuse of the muscles
Yoga practice can help prevent injuries from the first four causes.
Yoga poses emphasize strengthening, stretching, and balance among all parts of the body.
A yoga practice begins with a warm-up that prepares all the muscles and connective tissues for vigorous exercise.
Then, yoga postures make sure that muscles surrounding vulnerable joints such as knees and ankles are strong enough to allow for the quick, explosive movements that mark athletic performance.
As you work through this book, you will notice that even small, usually neglected muscles are noted.
Imbalanced training is a serious problem in many sports.
Imbalanced training is a serious problem in many sports.
Some sports, such as tennis, golf, and baseball pitching, use one side of the body more than the other. This imbalance adds stress on joints and can easily lead to injury on both the weaker and stronger sides. Some sports have particular stress on one body part.
For example, cyclists often experience neck pain from leaning over the handlebars for extended periods.
The neck compensates so that the rider can see forward.
Sometimes the pressure of the body weight leaning forward on the arms can cause pain in the upper
back and neck.
back and neck.
A yoga practice can bring the parts of the body back into balance, reducing the probability of injures.
Finally and most importantly, yoga can restore and preserve the flexibility that is often sacrificed by strength-building exercises.
Finally and most importantly, yoga can restore and preserve the flexibility that is often sacrificed by strength-building exercises.
Muscle tightness may lead to torn muscles and a season-ending injury.
Yoga’s emphasis on stretching muscles will lengthen them, reducing the potential for injury and
allowing the connective tissue to be restored.
allowing the connective tissue to be restored.
A regular yoga and stretch routine keeps an athlete’s muscles loose and flexible so that instead of atorn muscle during a game, an athlete may only slightly pull a muscle. Instead of a season-ending injury, an athlete can reduce the number of games missed thanks to flexibility. Each sport requires different stretches to complement the trained muscles. See part II to learn how to tailor your
yoga practice to your sport.
All athletes want to perform to the best of their ability, and in doing so they often run the risk of overusing their muscles.
yoga practice to your sport.
All athletes want to perform to the best of their ability, and in doing so they often run the risk of overusing their muscles.
Yoga training can bring 8 balance and flexibility to strong muscles to reduce the potential of overuse
injuries. Avoiding these injuries is key to improving athletic performance.
The poses throughout this book will help you prevent athletic injuries.
Poses are beneficial done on their own or in sequence with other poses.
A common sequence of yoga poses is moving from upward-facing dog pose to downward-facing dog pose (or cobra pose to downward-facing dog pose), both of which are described next.
injuries. Avoiding these injuries is key to improving athletic performance.
The poses throughout this book will help you prevent athletic injuries.
Poses are beneficial done on their own or in sequence with other poses.
A common sequence of yoga poses is moving from upward-facing dog pose to downward-facing dog pose (or cobra pose to downward-facing dog pose), both of which are described next.
These poses accomplish the balanced stretch of all parts of the body, and they are strong poses for building muscles. These poses appear several times throughout this book; refer to the following descriptions as needed.
Muscles
Triceps, infraspinatus and teres minor, rhomboids, trapezius, quadriceps, gluteus maximus1. Lie facedown with your hands placed on the mat and under your shoulders.
2. Inhale as you lift your chest and straighten your arms.
3. Roll over your toes to the tops of your feet.
4. Engage your quadriceps to lift your knees off the floor, keeping your legs straight (fgure 1.3).
5. Keep your shoulders down and back, away from your ears.
6. Pull your shoulder blades toward each other and down your back.
7. Align the shoulders over the wrists.
8. Keep your palms pressing down into your mat, maintaining straight arms.
9. Gaze forward to lengthen and relax your neck.
10. Push your shoulders back as your shoulder blades press down.
11. Press the tops of your feet down into your mat as you engage your quadriceps and lift your knees off the floor, maintaining a slight engagement of your gluteal muscles.
back. If you have any problems in the low back or shoulders, do cobra pose instead.
Safety Tip
Keep a slight engagement of your abdominal muscles to prevent discomfort in your lowback. If you have any problems in the low back or shoulders, do cobra pose instead.
Muscles
Rectus abdominis, quadriceps, sartorius, pectoralis major, deltoids1. Lie facedown with your legs extended, your arms down along your sides, and your forehead resting on the mat.
2. Bend your elbows, then plant your hands on the mat next to your rib cage.
3. Lift your forehead off the floor, lengthening your chest forward and upward as you softly press your palms into the mat (fgure 1.4).
4. At the same time, stretch your legs as you engage your quadriceps and press the tops of your feet down into the mat.
5. Keep your abdominal muscles engaged, and tuck your tailbone toward your heels while in this pose.
Modifcation
Lengthen through the legs and hover your legs up from the floor as you pull your chest forward.Safety Tip
Keep your tailbone tucking toward your heels to prevent sinking into your low back, keep creating length in your spine, and keep your core engaged while in the pose.
Muscles
Triceps, infraspinatus, teres minor, rhomboids, trapezius, erector spinae, quadratus lumborum, hamstrings, gastrocnemius and soleus (calf muscles), gluteal muscles1. Lie facedown with your hands on the mat underneath your shoulders.
2. Exhale as you lift your hips up and back and roll over your toes.
3. Press into your hands to lengthen your arms.
4. Roll your shoulders out away from your ears.
5. Relax your neck.
6. Lengthen your spine as you lift your hips.
7. Press down through your heels, and straighten your legs (fgure 1.5).
8. Make sure your hands are shoulder-width apart and your index fngers point to the top of your mat.
9. Separate the fngers wide.
Post a Comment