In the vast world of fitness and holistic wellness, yoga stands out as one of the most popular practices, known for its ability to unify the mind, body, and spirit. Its benefits are widely celebrated, from enhancing flexibility to reducing stress. However, as the president of the European Association of Advanced Biostructural Correction (ABCE) and a seasoned chiropractor focusing on structural correction, I’ve observed a critical aspect that often goes unaddressed: Yoga is a balanced sport for balanced bodies. If your body harbours imbalances, stretching them away to try and improve your body may be an ineffective strategy and could potentially lead to further instability or injury. In this blog, I will share a different perspective on the merits of stretching to attain the goal of a healthy, pain-free body that works well.
At the core of this discussion is the principle that the body’s tightness serves as a defence mechanism against it’s existing imbalances and misalignments. Advanced Biostructural Correction™, a method I practice and advocate for, reveals a fundamental issue: bones can go out of alignment in ways the body cannot self-correct, as it lacks the muscular or mechanical means to do so — what this looks like in reality is spinal bones getting stuck forwards leading to a ‘collapse’ of the posture.
When we find ourselves stuck in a forward posture, the body’s response is to twist and tense up certain muscles or joints to find stability again. You can think of this as a next-best alternative or fixing a problem with a problem. This twisting, tightening compensation effect leads to stiffness and often aches, pain, injuries and degeneration of the joints over time. So, paradoxically, the tightness and asymmetry of the body, which is very often the triggering factor for wanting to do Yoga in the first place, are actually part of the body’s solution for its existing instability. Stretching these areas can leave you less stable and more susceptible to injury, even though it may feel better for a short while afterwards.
When it comes to actual yoga moves, the ones that are particularly troubling for structural alignment are prolonged forward bends and excessive back bending or bridges, which are prevalent in many yoga practices. These movements can significantly disrupt spinal alignment. While some individuals claim transformative benefits from yoga, it’s essential to discern whether these improvements are merely temporary relief from painful compensations or a genuine enhancement of the body’s balance and strength. More often than not, the relief is temporary. Think of when you last stretched out your body. You probably felt great for a few hours, but by the next day your body had reset itself and the stiffness returned. Why? Because your body needed it, so it built the tension back in.
It’s not to say that stretching lacks value. When applied skillfully, it can alleviate symptoms in specific body regions. However, the relief is usually transient, and the resultant stability might be compromised. The research underscores this, showing that stretching can actually elevate the risk of injuries, something which is often surprising for people to learn. The stark truth is that stretching will never restore a body back to optimal alignment, function and natural strength.
Many years ago, before I had discovered ABC and was searching for all possible ways to optimise my health, I enthusiastically started a Bikram yoga routine in Parsons Green; it was all good fun until a sudden knee injury occurred while doing something called the Standing Bow pose. The pain stuck around for many weeks and was a stark lesson on how such practices can disrupt bodily balance and stability. I am not alone. Over the years, I have seen many new patients present with back, knee, hip and neck injuries which were a direct result of their regular yoga practice, which had been going great, and was seen as an integrally important part of their life, until their body could take no more.
Another interesting phenomenon occurs in bodies that are regularly stretched – they take much longer to progress with structural correction. There is a simple basic reason for this: the body is less able to self-correct through its layers of mechanical problems because its defence system is being tampered with, leaving it unstable and unable to organise itself to the required degree to self-correct.
Yoga is by no means all bad tho, it does have some amazing merits, particularly for mind-body connection and stress relief. Moving joints through their full range of motion also provides essential nutrition for joint and brain health. Yet, the pitfall arises when exercise, including yoga, is seen as a therapeutic tool for fixing bodily issues. Exercise’s main benefit for your body structure comes from strengthening its stabilising musculature, enabling it to manage mechanical imbalances and problems through better compensation.
This insight leads to a crucial recommendation: If you want a pain-free flexible and robust body – address the root cause of your body’s structural issues. Advanced Biostructural Correction™ offers a pathway to correct these fundamental imbalances, negating the need for extensive stretching routines. By realigning the body correctly, we can restore natural balance, ensuring you can enjoy the benefits of movement without injuring your muscles and joints. Flexibility can also improve as your structure corrects with ABC because when properly aligned your body lets go of its compensation-tightening mechanisms. When you are far enough corrected, it can feel like you have been all stretched out, even though you didn’t perform a single stretch, and it stays.
In conclusion, while yoga can be a useful addition to a holistic wellness regimen, but it’s important to approach it with an understanding of your body’s unique needs. For those experiencing or prone to back or joint injuries, a thorough evaluation and correction of these issues should precede or accompany a yoga practice. This approach ensures that your journey towards wellness enhances your body’s stability and robustness rather than inadvertently leading to instability and injury. Remember, the goal is not to stretch away the problems but to correct them at their source, paving the way for a strong and balanced body.
If you love yoga and want to either start or continue your journey with it, then my encouragement would be to view it as a movement practice rather than a discipline for ‘correcting imbalances’ or ‘getting flexible’. Do the poses well within your normal range of motion and take care with backbends, which have the capacity to misalign and irritate spinal vertebrae easily.
How You Can Determine If Stretching Is Helping or Harming Your Alignment
The ABC slump test is a very useful simple test that anyone can do to find out if your chosen exercise path is helping or harming your structure. Do it before and immediately after your practice to compare your structural stability. If you slump more after your workout, it is because whatever you just did has had a harmful overall effect. If you slump the same amount, you are likely working within a safe limit of your body’s capacity to handle your workouts.
Thank you for learning more about the importance of structural health and how we can help you achieve optimal well-being. If you’re ready to take the first step towards a pain-free life and improved posture, please get in touch with us. We offer comprehensive BioStructural assessments to identify the root cause of your pain or posture problems, and our experienced team will tailor a treatment program to meet your unique needs. Call us today at 02089414410 to schedule a consultation, or visit our website at www.spinecentral.co.uk/apply to apply directly. Let’s work together to help you feel your best!
