Yoga Research & Beyond

Can virtual reality technology affect pain perception? Well, yeah. Catherine Cowey and I discuss a fun study about this co-authored by Lorimer Moseley in 2015 in the Psychological Science Journal. The researchers used VR technology to give subjects (with a history of neck pain) the illusion that they had moved their neck more or less than they actually had. As they hypothesized, this had an effect on their perception of pain.

Proximal hamstring tendinopathy (PHT) is a pathology of the tendon with a combination of tissue damage, inflammation, and possibly pain at the proximal tendon where the hamstring attaches to the ischial tuberosity. PHT is very common among yoga practitioners as well as in other populations. Jules Mitchell and I talk about our own experiences with hamstring injuries as well as a 2016 clinical commentary entitled Proximal Hamstring Tendinopathy: Clinical Aspects of Assessment and Management from the Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy.

Breathing is a hot topic for yoga teachers and fitness professionals. Jenn Pilotti and I talk about a study on the 90/90 breath technique with ball and balloon. Postural Restoration Institute (PRI) practitioners use this exercise to help people of all ages with musculoskeletal pain, including low back pain. We discuss the relationship between breathing and posture and how they might affect low back pain.

How does Kinesiotape® affect balance and athletic performance? Cat and I discuss a study from the International Journal of Sports Physical Therapy done in 2016. The authors hypothesized that there would be improvements in athletic performance but it didn't work out that way. There are many claims about the benefits of ktape. Cat and I discuss all of that and more. Bottom line. If it works for you, use it, but don't become dependent on it.

Can 12 minutes of yoga a day reverse osteoporotic bone loss? The title of this study "Twelve-Minute Daily Yoga Regimen Reverses Osteoporotic Bone Loss" might lead you to believe so, but the results and data are incomplete and inconclusive. Jules Mitchell and I talk about this complicated, underwhelming study published in the Geriatric Rehabilitation Journal in 2015.

Catherine Cowey and I discuss an article on chronic pain and hypermobility syndrome (HMS) from the Journal of Pain Research. This article gives a thorough overview of the many kinds of hypermobility conditions and symptoms and makes it very clear that it's a complicated subject. There's a wide spectrum of hypermobility syndromes and symptoms which can make diagnosis challenging. The criteria are confusing and overlap depending on the type of hypermobility syndrome, and therefore, may need to be updated. We also talk about how to work with people who are hypermobile. When it comes to exercise and movement, people tend to do what they're already good at it. Flexible people may love to do yoga because they find the poses accessible. For flexible people who also have hypermobility (joint laxity), only doing yoga and stretching can potentially exacerbate HMS symptoms or create instability in their joints. Couple this with the pervasive idealization of flexibility in yoga asana, as if it is somehow tied to spiritual heights, and you have a potentially injurious combination. Hypermobile yoga students would benefit from incorporating strength work and holding back on how far they go in poses in order to gain more strength and control in the ranges that they have.

Are headstands safe? Jules Mitchell and I discuss a study about headstands from 2014. This is the first study of its kind that assessed loads on the neck and head in headstand. We had different reactions to this study. When I read it, it reinforced my decision to exclude headstands from my practice and group classes. When she read it, it didn't change her mind about excluding it from group classes, but she went back to headstands in her personal practice. What was it about the study that deterred me from headstands? There is some data in this study that at face value can be alarming about the amount of force on the head and neck, and risks of fracture with compression and extension in the cervical spine. However Jules provides us with context about how those studies were conducted that made the data less alarming. As Jules likes to say, one study does not a conclusion make. This pioneering study opens the door to more questions and does not allow us to make definitive conclusions about the right or wrong ways to do headstand.

How does ankle instability affect the knee? In the previous episode Jenn Pilotti and I discussed proximal stability for distal mobility - how core stability affects the knees and ankles. But what about the other way around? How do distal joints affect more proximal ones?

Many movement professionals work from the ground up, thinking about how the foot and ankle affect the rest of the kinetic chain. This is one of the few studies Jenn found that examines how the ankle affects the knee and landing kinematics. We review this study and talk about our own ankle injuries and working with people who have ankle issues. Yoga teachers often say it's all connected. This paper touches on an aspect of that, namely how the ankle (a distal joint) affects the knee (a more proximal joint).

Proximal stability for distal mobility is a principle that's often used in corrective exercise, manual treatment and personal training. Generally, it means that working on core stability can affect distal joints, providing more mobility. This is logical. A stable core may allow for less chaos in the periphery. In this episode Jenn Pilotti and I discuss 2 studies that look at how proximal strengthening impacts the knees and ankles of female athletes. The first study looks at the effect core stability has on landing kinematics for female Capoeira practitioners; the second looks at what strengthening the hip does for high school female basketball players with history of ankle injury. These studies support the notion that core stability in the lumbo pelvic hip complex affects the knees and ankles.

Does Yoga improve athletic performance? It might, but we don't know exactly how. Jules Mitchell was researching how yoga affects athletics performance for her upcoming book and discovered a gap in the literature. There's plenty of research about the SAID principle and adaptation, but not enough about yoga's impact on sports performance. In this episode we talk about the only two studies that cover this topic as well as their many limitations. Hopefully there will be more studies about this in the future so we can have more clarity.