By shannenroberts

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Sciatica or Sciatic Nerve Pain

My mom has been dealing with sciatic nerve pain, a few of my students have asked me about it.

I found this BEAUTIFUL article on it, please read it here.

I played with passively opening the hips in my class tonight with these poses:

1. Start lying on your mat knees bent. Extend your right leg up, place right ankle on to left thigh, FLEX YOUR RIGHT FOOT TO PROTECT YOUR KNEE, gently press the thigh out with your right hand. Draw the legs in towards your chest for thread the needle, allow the legs to fall to the left, right foot plants on to the mat. Press your right thigh open.

2. Start in a lunge. Back knee down, toes uncurled. Heel toe your front foot to the outside edge of your mat. Turn out the foot, come to the outside edge of your foot. Press your thigh open with your hand.

2. Ardha Matsyendrasana

The most common yoga injury is twisting the musculoskeletal system farther than the organs can support. Twist from the inside out!! My class focus today was twists. To safely twist, you must inhale and create SPACE in your spine, and then engage your core as you exhale and twist from your inner body/organs. More info in my blog :) #twists #squeezeandsoak #marichyasana #yoga #yogateacher #yogaismymedicine

3. Standing form of thread the needle

My mom has been having a hard time with sciatic nerve pain, so I taught a class on sciatica tonight in her honor ❤️❤️❤️ Sciatica can be a pain, weakness, burning, tingling, or numbing that usually starts in the bum and ends up shooting down the leg. Releasing the hamstrings and passively opening the hips are key to finding relief. This is my favorite pose to gently stretch the piriformis muscle which can put pressure on the sciatic nerve if tight (I've gotten sciatica a few times -_-). It can be done with or without the support of a wall. Make sure to keep your top foot flexed to protect your knees!!! xox #sciatica #piriformis #form #lovemymom #hope #relief #yogainstructor #selftherapy

Routine for Chronic Pain

A student asked me what I do for my neck’s chronic pain.
 
The key to relieving pain in the joints is daily movement and breath work. However, many people go in to yoga with no knowledge of FORM. In my Mon/Wed night classes, I take it slow, more of an Iyengar approach, to focus on form and restorative practices so the neck can avoid strain and the body can learn to align correctly to avoid further injury and further pain in other joints.
 
I’ve designed a program for myself depending on my level of pain:
 
HIGH PAIN and HIGH JOINT STIFFNESS – Restorative Yoga, Meditation, ice, heat, peppermint oil or biofreeze, tennis ball massages
 
Cross train LEGS with bands or light weights (By strengthening another body part, it teaches the neck to not compensate for lack of strength in other areas)
 
MID PAIN and MID JOINT STIFFNESS - Iyengar Yoga, ice, heat, tennis ball massages
 
Cross train ARMS with bands/light weights but NO WEIGHT BEARING EXERCISES such as pull-ups, push-ups, or planks
***Weight bearing exercises can cause pain to the neck if the shoulders, back, and arms are weak !!! If weak in those areas, the neck will tighten and grip.
 
SUBTLE PAIN AND SUBTLE JOINT STIFFNESS – Light Vinyasa Flow Yoga
 
Crosstrain shoulders, back, and neck with light weights, bands, and pushups with knees down and assisted pull-ups. Apply 10 min ice, 10 min heat after cross training. Heat and tennis ball massage before bed.
 
I taught a more intense vinyasa flow yoga class today. It’s good to do someeee vinyasa flow because the heat from all those vinyasa’s creates more JOINT MOBILITY. However, always listen to your body. It’s better to skip the “push-up” part if your neck is flaring up or starting to grip.
 
I know many people are really against pills, but if you’re standing all day and are constantly inflamed, you need to find something that you can re-apply during the day to stop the inflammation. 
 
So if taking ibuprofen before and after work is not an option, then I’d recommend finding oils that help.
 
BIOFREEZE VERSUS PEPPERMINT OIL
Biofreeze is basically like IcyHot, except, just the Icy part and it permeates deeper into the skin. It does WONDERS if your neck starts to feel burning or heated sensations. However, it can cause muscles to tense.
 
I’ve found that the sides of my neck do best with peppermint oil, and the back of my neck loves biofreeze.
 
Peppermint oil is great throughout the day. It rids of inflammation and relaxes the muscles.
 
Honestly, just experiment with which one feels better, and take note of WHY it felt good at a certain for a specific type of pain that you felt.
 
ICE VERSUS HEAT
Think of ice like biofreeze, and heat like peppermint oil.
Ice tenses up the muscles, but takes away inflammation
Heat relaxes the muscles and provides more joint mobility.
 
Some people will tell you “always end with ice,” but those people most likely do not have chronic pain…
 
When my neck is in HIGH PAIN, ice is my best friend. When my HIGH JOINT STIFFNESS in the neck, heat is my best friend.
 
Sometimes, when i’m in HIGH PAIN, and HIGH JOINT STIFFNESS, it feels great to first put ice for 10 min, then heat for 10 min because the ice will calm the inflammation and tense up the muscles, and the sudden touch of heat relaxes them completely.
 
CREATING A ROUTINE
It’s going to take me a few days to post my routine, but I’ll post it on my blog ASAP! 
 
Yoga teachers tend to switch the focus of each class. So some classes you’ll take might be more flow when your body wants a restorative class. Or some might focus on arm balances when your neck is flared up.
 
ALWAYS TELL THE YOGA INSTRUCTOR about whatever body part is bothering you that day so they can give you a yummy class that will feel good in your body. 
 
For my body, I have a 15 min routine for the morning, 30-1 hour routine at night, and a regular yoga practice plus cross-training with weights 3-5 times a week depending on how my neck feels. On top of this, I still go to physical therapy 2 to 3 times a week. 
 
There is hope for coping with chronic pain <33333 If you have any questions just ask :)
 
P. S. 
Finding a comfortable and supported sleeping posture will also benefit your joints !!!
 
 

Yoga on the Floor – Restorative Sequence

My neck has been acting up a lot. I had one of those ridiculous moments where I looked down too abruptly and something pulled in my left shoulder. So now I can’t turn to the left very well, and walking/driving is uncomfortable.

But I’m still continuing to workout my muscles :)

My sequence today was a restorative yoga practice to open up the low back, hips, and relax my muscles through a moving meditation.

1. Started out lying down knees bent hip distance apart. Let them lazily drop to the left, and then the right to relax the low back muscles gently.

Repeat x6

2. Inhale, I extended the legs up feet flexed while lowering the arms almost down to the floor
Exhale,  lowered the feet back to the floor, knees still bent, and placed right palm over the the left hand and allowed the back of my right hand to place pressure on the forehead.

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***I’ve been getting headaches due to spasming in my neck, so pressure on the forehead helps calm and rid of the headaches.

Repeat x6

3. Knees bent, still lying down. Extended the right leg up, pointed the toes, ankle rolls. Repeat other leg. 5 sets.

4. Hugged the knees into my chest for apanasana
Made circles with the knees to the right, then the left
Then, keeping the knees bent, let the thighs spread out the sides, and made circles with the thighs in, and out.

5. Happy baby

6. Yesterday I did stair master, squats with the smyth machine, grand plies with a kettle ball, calve raises, and donkey kicks (none of which bothered my neck!!!), so my hamstrings felt very good, but hips were tight.

Because my hamstrings felt wonderful, I sat in a side “splits,” let my right arm reach toward my left toes, and left arm extend over my ear, left fingertips reaching for right toes. This felt WONDERFUL in my low back. At one point I let the lower arm act as a kickstand to support my neck.

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7. Crossed the legs in a seated position with the ankles flexed and, with a flat back, let both arms extend forward and head gently relax down (the neck muscles are very tight in the back of my neck right now…)

8. Sat in Baddha Konasana (knees bent, backs of feet touching) with my back supported against my couch. Held this pose while I watched Jimmy Fallon with my family (jajajaja) and let my hips restoratively open.

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8. Opened my upper back in a similar fashion as Bridge Pose would, but without the pressure on my shoulders/neck.
Knees bent, snuggled my body down until my shoulders, but not my head/neck, touched the top of the couch. I bent my arms, kind of like in fish pose, and lifted my heart toward the ceiling.

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Ice, heat, peppermint oil.

Goodnight :)