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| The Invisible Skeleton: A physical therapist's view on how yoga applies to everyday life |
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by Lisa B. Minn, PT - September 19, 2011
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Provided by The Pragmatic Yogi
Healing = Response to stress begins to normalize. Return of normal mechanisms of handling stress, like trabeculae in bone.
I came across this definition of healing while I was taking a course in Musculoskeletal Imaging this summer. I thought it was quite an interesting definition. It is an explanation that could be interpreted on a purely mechanical level. Trabeculae are little fibers of bone (or beams, according to the literal Latin translation) that can be seen on x-rays. They are the result of Wolff’s Law or the normal response of osteoblasts (bone-making cells) to mechanical stimulation such as weight-bearing or muscle tension.
But this definition can also be very important on a psychosocial or spiritual level. We can’t really visualize stress management skills or coping strategies but surely they are just as important for human health. If we don't have adequate emotional trabeculae or psychological beams to handle stress, we can be ‘broken’ by a spiritual crisis or a flare-up of a mental illness or a lack of social support. We say that people can “snap.” We say this when they are overwhelmed by stress and as a result do things like neglect personal health and hygiene or lose their tempers over little things or commit senseless acts of violence. Snap is also the sound a bone makes when it breaks. Snap is what happens when our mechanisms of handling stress, any kind of stress, are not adequate.
Physical therapists know all about how bones heal. But how often do we think about the invisible threads of healing? Sometimes a broken bone is just a broken bone. But sometimes broken bones come with emotional trauma or other stressors. Sometimes our patients might be slow to heal because their mechanisms for handling psychological, emotional or spiritual stresses are impaired and they simply don't have the energy to heal on a physical level. And now there is evidence* that cultivating such energy through a disciplined practice of breathing, meditation and chanting can actually help fractures to heal more quickly.
Yoga can help our patients cope with all the different types of stresses. By yoga, I certainly don’t mean send your patient with a delayed union fracture to the local yoga studio for a vinyasa classs. But I do mean help guide your patients to seek healing on whatever level they need. Maybe that means meditation or counseling. Perhaps they need a social outlet or cultivation of a new hobby. Combining physical therapy and yoga means helping patients to heal their bodies as well as strengthening their invisible skeletons.
*The effect of add-on yogic prana energization technique (YPET) on healing of fresh fractures: a randomized control study.Oswal P, Nagarathna R, Ebnezar J, Nagendra HR. J Altern Complement Med. 2011 Mar;17(3):253-8. Epub 2011 Mar 9.
Lisa Minn is a licensed physical therapist and yoga enthusiast. She has been incorporating aspects of Yoga and Pilates into her physical therapy practice since 2001 and became a certified yoga instructor in 2004. Her experience ranges from working with athletes at West Point and Georgetown to instructing elderly and wheelchair-bound clients in the fundamentals of Hatha Yoga. Lisa has conducted several lectures and workshops across the US, as well as in Honduras and Peru, where she volunteered her services. She currently resides and practices in Northern California. This and other articles by Lisa can be found at The Pragmatic Yogi.
The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.
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