Side Plank Pose Vastithasana Could Reduce Spinal Curves in People with Scoliosis!

by Nina

Side Plank Pose (photo "borrowed" from Wall Street Journal)

I’ve been hearing for some time that a single yoga pose, Side Plank pose (Vasithasana), is particularly beneficial for people with scoliosis (see Friday Q&A: Scoliosis). In my post Late-Onset Scoliosis is Common in Older Adults, I wrote about a New York Times article that said that late-onset scoliosis, a condition I have myself, is actually more prevalent in adults than it is in adolescents. The author of that article, Jane Brody, is not a regular yoga practitioner, but she described a “yoga exercise” that was recommended to her after she found out about her late-onset scoliosis.

"Determined to minimize further shrinkage and to avoid pain and nerve damage, I consulted a physiatrist who, after reviewing X-rays of my misshapen spine, said the muscles on my right side, where the spinal protrusion is, were overdeveloped relative to the left. He prescribed a yoga exercise — a side plank — to strengthen the muscles on the left and exert enough of a tug on my spine to keep it from protruding farther to the right. He suggested that the exercise might even straighten the curve somewhat. And I myself had the same pose, Side Plank pose (Vasithasana) recommended to me by my chiropractor (yes, I have a chiropractor for my scoliosis—I don’t believe that yoga is the answer to everything), so I have incorporated this wonderful strengthening pose into my regular yoga practice."

Now a recent scientific study, which was reported in the Wall Street Journal article Study: Doing the Side Plank Reduced Spinal Curving in Scoliosis Patients, found that for a small group of patients with scoliosis (21 women and four men, ages 14 to 85) practicing this one pose resulted in a curve reduction of almost 50 percent among teenage practitioners and 38 percent for adults. Yes, they studied just this single yoga pose!

"In this study, we assess the possible benefits of asymmetrical strengthening of truncal muscles on the convex side of the scoliotic curve through a single yoga pose, the side plank pose, in idiopathic and degenerative scoliosis."

For this particular study, they recommended that the participants do the pose on one side only, "with the convexity downward." For information on the original study, see Serial Case Reporting Yoga for Idiopathic and Degenerative Scoliosis.

While this study of Side Plank pose is—like so many other scientific studies of yoga—limited by the small number of participants being studied and the lack of control group, there is no question in our minds that this is an excellent strengthening pose. In his post Friday Q&A: Yoga for Surgically Repaired Scoliosis, Baxter mentioned Side Plank pose as one of the strengthening poses that he recommended for strengthening the muscles at the front, back, and sides of your body. Shari says the pose strengthens the serratus anterior, the obliques, the latisimus, quadratus the lumborum, the gluteus muscles, the fasciae latae, hamstrings, scapula stabilizers, teres minor and major, and then all the paraspinal muscle stabilizers. Wow that’s a lot of muscles! That's why we recommend this pose for anyone who wants to build upper body strength. And I’m betting that strengthening those paraspinal muscles (the muscles all along the spine) is particular beneficial for people with scoliosis.

So today seems like a good day to review our instructions for how to practice this pose. For people who don’t yet have the strength to do the pose on the floor, we provide the option of doing the pose with one hand on the wall. You can practice the wall version regularly until you build up the strength to do the floor version.

Side Plank Pose on the Floor

1. Start by taking Downward-Facing Dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana) pose.

1. From Downward-Facing Dog, swing your shoulders forward almost into Plank position while keeping your hips lifted.

3. Make your right arm stronger by contracting the muscles of the arm to the bone, and tip your heels to the right, bringing the outer edge of your right foot and the inner edge of your left foot to the floor, with your feet slightly apart.

4. Turn your chest away from the floor and bring your left hand onto your left hip. Since this takes a lot of strength, stay just few breaths at first, and gradually add more time with more practice.

5. To come out, swing back into Downward-Facing Dog pose

6.  Unless you are practicing on one side only as in the study, repeat the pose on the second side. Afterward, rest in Child’s pose a few breaths.

Side Plank Pose on the Wall 

1. Start with your right side to the wall. 

2. Reach your right arm out to your side, parallel with the floor, and place your palm on the wall with your fingers pointing up. Engage your right shoulder blade into your chest wall and down slightly towards your right waist.

3. Step both feet out away from the wall, until your right foot is positioned directly under your left shoulder.

4. If your balance is good, try bending your left knee and bringing your left foot into Tree pose (Vrksasana).

5. Take your left arm up and overhead, reaching strongly towards the wall with your left arm and shoulder blade, aligning it like the top arm in Extended Side Angle pose (Utthita Parsvakonasna). 

6. Unless you are practicing on one side only as in the study, repeat on the second side. 

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Why Chiropractor Downtown Edmonton Prolong Your Life And Reduce Diseases

By Jason Walker

Diseases have plague the human mind since the dawn of time. In ancient times people have died not from natural death but in accidents, birth, and plagues. Medicine and science were still in the dark during those ages, and practices mostly leaned on murdering innocent people. But as technology and humans advanced, so did science and medicine and now it mostly relates to health care to prolong the patients life not shorten it.

You want something or someone to help lubricate the oil between each bone. So you check with your primary health care worker, and they refer you to a chiropractor downtown Edmonton. Traveling down to Edmonton, Alberta where the said professional became your all too consuming mission.

The unbearable pain around your neck and the stiffness are driving you crazy. But you know you do not want to rush because you heard awful stories. Stories about babies breaking their necks when only mommy and daddy just wanted to give only the best, and that includes their death sentence, but even so you are a full grown adult and you need help so you take the chance.

In orthopedics this is referred as the nursemaids elbow. Joints such as the fingers, shoulders, ribs, kneecaps, ankles, hips, and wrists are affected by sublexation. Another is called hip dysplasia while problems near the spine area is called the spinal subluxation usually caused by a fracture.

Chances are you suffer from a dysplexia. A dysplexia refers to a bony structure being dislocated, so whenever you bend down or perform simply moving task you can feel a slight pain and hear a popping sound. Though it differs for all kinds of injuries, but having yourself assessed and getting an x ray to confirm your suspicion can do you some good.

Because injuries can impede your growth and might require a few replacements from donors. Hospital bills should be feared because its one reason why folks often go broke. But luckily alternative medicines and therapies are growing these days with more folks supporting the claim that these things work just like miracles.

Dislocation often happens around the mandible area near the articular groove around the posterior, lateral, superior, or anterior location. If you believe that you are not a sufferer of broken bones and dislocated spinal discs then you are terribly wrong. Pain does not appear until in your later years when you are more concerned about staying alive than dying from old age.

The chiropractor manages people of all ages even at the early stages of adulthood. Recommending your older relatives to see one is considerate, but can greatly benefit from the assistance too. However success does not mean lying on an operating table while being put under.

Most procedures are done awake so make sure that you take the responsibility in managing your problems. Most can only give you advice and show you the correct way to do it. The brunt of the work is shove to you, so start cracking those bones.

About the Author:

If you are seeking treatment from a qualified chiropractor downtown Edmonton clinic is the place to come to. Make an appointment online using this site http://citycentrehealth.com.