Christine Carr

The Layers of Back Pain

 

Back pain may limit your ability to participate in any activity, including yoga.   If you injured your back in yoga, why didn’t the person next to you also get hurt? Why do some people heal fast and others do not? Practicing safe yoga is important. This requires body awareness, mindfulness, and good instruction on technique.   If these points have been covered and you still hurt your back, perhaps the reason is a bit more personal. As a yoga practitioner you may be familiar with the Kosha model.   The Kosha model forms an ideal framework for the therapeutic side of yoga. The five layers of human existence move from tangible to subtle.   The layers include physical, energetic, psychological, intuitive and spiritual and are all equally important.   Unity of mind, body and spirit requires us to consider these layers individually and as a whole.   Our perception of these layers within our own body can guide our recovery and keep us safe on our mat. Pain is a physical response to a noxious stimulus, but pain can also occur without stimulus. The complicated nature of low back pain is due to the fact that we are human beings. Many books have been written with various perspectives on causes and proper treatment for back pain.   As a physical therapist, my education has developed around a biomedical model. From this lens, I offer suggestions on preventing back pain specifically from the first layer of the Kosha model. Keep in mind, this layer cannot easily be peeled…

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Introducing Christine Carr, DPT, PYT and Smart Asana

 

Smart Asana: An Ongoing Blog For Asana Safety I’m pleased to introduced Dr. Christine Carr, DPT, PYT, our asana expert and safety guide for teachers and yoga students. Dr. Carr will be making regular contributions featuring asana-related issues that can compromise smart, safe yoga. I took time out last week to interview Christine about her passion and expertise around this topic of asana safety. As you will see, she’s sharp, deeply passionate and has much to share with us.   Welcome Christine to Smart Safe Yoga!     Dr. Carr’s Yoga-based Physical Therapy Clinic… creating the future of rehabilitation!    

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Smart Asana: Protecting the Elbow

 
Christine Carr Protecting the Elbow

Protecting the Elbow Complex During Yoga Hand balances are a common part of many yoga classes.  We often place weight on our hands as we progress through our poses.  We may move from a bird dog variation, to downward facing dog, to upward facing dog several times in one class.  Whatever dog you do (or teach), the joints of the hand, elbow and shoulder may be at risk.  Injuries (from yoga) are on the rise (1).  The causes of joint injury may include: stiffness, hypermobility, muscle weakness, or performing hand balances improperly.   We should not underestimate the importance our elbow joint complex has in the safety of our practice.  Our elbow is situated between two mobile joints and is susceptible to strain. The Parts Like the knee, the elbow is considered a complex hinge joint.  Like the hinge to a door, this type of joint allows primarily one plane of motion.  In the elbow, there are 4 joints (3 bones) that enable not only bending and straightening (flexion and extension), but also rotating the hand up (supination) and down (pronation).  These joints are respectively: the humeroulnar joint, the radiohumeral joint, the proximal radioulnar joint and the distal radioulnar joint.  The last two joints are considered pivot, multi-axial joints hence the ‘complex’ part. The elbow joint is designed to be stable.  In addition to a network of ligaments, there are 16 muscles that control movement in the elbow, wrist and hand.  Seven muscles that cross the elbow control the elbow specifically, and the…

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