Margaret Martin - Yoga for Better Bones: Safe Yoga for People with Osteoporosis

Yoga for Better Bones

Safe Yoga for People with Osteoporosis.

Copyright 2018 by Margaret Martin.

Photography: Richard Martin

Interior Design: Richard Martin

All rights reserved. This book was self-published by Margaret Martin under Kamajojo Press. All of the content in this book is owned by Margaret Martin and is protected by worldwide copyright laws. The trademarks, service marks, trade names, and trade dress featured in this book are protected by the laws of the United States, Canada and those of other countries and jurisdictions around the world.

This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and except by reviews for the public press), without the written permission from the author. This includes reprints, excerpts, photocopying, recording, or any future means of reproducing the text or photos.

For information on getting permission for reprints and excerpts, contact Richard Martin at info@melioguide.com.

Published in Canada by Kamajojo Press.

EPUB ISBN: 978-0-9919125-6-8

Version 1

Find us on the Web at www.melioguide.com

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Contents

A special thank you to Jayelle Lindsay, PT, MCPA for helping me develop this book and reviewing the material in detail. Jayelle attended one of my Building Better Bones continuing education courses for health professionals.

Jayelle is a Physical Therapist and a Certified Yoga Teacher with over 30 years of experience in movement re-education. She is a graduate of the University of Western Ontario and is currently the director of Living Yoga & Health in Guelph, Ontario. Jayelle began teaching Yoga in 1991 and continues her studies in yoga and movement with a variety of teachers. She has offered trainings in Anatomy for Yoga Teachers and has presented programs at the Kripalu Center in Massachusetts.

A special thank you has to go to our wonderful model, Jan Matthews, for setting aside the time for the photos and her patience during the photo shoot! Jan worked with us to make sure that the photos clearly demonstrate the correct (and incorrect) pose positions.

Finally, I would also like to thank the following individuals for their comments on the poses:

Victoria Blue,Registered Yoga Teacher. Victoria has been diagnosed with osteoporosis and has learned to modify her Yoga routine to accommodate her osteoporosis.

Diane Casey, Physical Therapist, Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist, and Yoga Instructor.

Michelle Fraser, Physical Therapist and Yoga Instructor.

Meena Sran, Ph.D, Physical Therapist.

Wendy Katzman, Physical Therapist, DPTSc, OCS. Assistant Clinical Professor, Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Science, University of California, San Francisco.

S hould you practice Yoga if you have osteoporosis or low bone density? Absolutely. However, it has been my experience that many Yoga classes are taught for the average population without consideration for students with osteoporosis or low bone density. This book is dedicated to showing you how to safely practice Yoga if you have osteoporosis or low bone density. (In this book the term low bone density includes people who have been diagnosed with osteopenia.)

My Motivation for Writing This Book

I am a Physical Therapist by training and profession. Many of my clients practice Yoga. Wherever I lived or travelled, I would attend a class in an attempt to understand the attraction Yoga had to many of my clients. Unfortunately, I did not like what I saw in most of the Yoga classes I attended.

Many of the chronic and acute back pain conditions I see in my clinic are the result of repeated forward stresses on the spine. In many of the classes that I attended, the Yoga instructor introduced poses that brought people into the same negative patterns of movement that I was trying to reduce in the lives of my clients.

I decided that I had better develop my Yoga expertise so that I could credibly encourage my clients to modify the problematic Yoga movements I saw during my travels. That lead me to become a Yoga teacher and to write this book.

But, before I get further into that story, I should tell you about my journey into the world of osteoporosis.

My Personal Osteoporosis Journey

My clinical work started in 1984 in Newfoundland, Canada. At that time I worked as a traditional Physical Therapist by day and YMCA fitness instructor in the evening. Toe touches and forward bends were a standard part of the exercise warm up at the YMCA. That same year, Dr. Mehrsheed Sinaki of the Mayo Clinic, began her study on the effect of particular exercises on bone. Her study demonstrated that the forward-bending movements I made part of my warm-ups at the YMCA fitness classes increased the risk of fracture among people with osteoporosis. It was not until the late 1990s, while working as a Physical Therapist in California, that I became aware of her work and started down the path of developing safe exercise programs for people with osteoporosis.

A move back to Canada allowed me to focus my practice on educating individuals on the effect of exercise on bone. I had a personal interest in osteoporosis because my mother, mother-in-law and sister-in-law all have osteoporosis. With the support of my husband and the encouragement Marion Weldon, a Physical Therapist in Toronto who had spent years teaching classes on osteoporosis education, I launched my web site www.melioguide.com .

After launching the website, fellow Physical Therapists and other movement specialists started asking me to teach them how to treat clients with osteoporosis through exercise.

In 2007, I launched the Building Better Bones training for health care professionals. My material was reviewed and approved by Osteoporosis Canada. They liked it so much that they launched a similar course! Between live and online courses I have trained thousands of health care professionals across Canada, the US, and Asia.

One of the students that attended my Building Better Bones course was Jayelle Lindsay. Jayelle is a Physical Therapist who has dedicated her career to teaching Yoga. Jayelle encouraged me to incorporate Yoga into the Exercise for Better Bones program and share this important information with Yoga instructors and individuals practicing Yoga.

My Yoga and Osteoporosis Journey

Jayelle and I collaborated on a short ebook, Yoga for Better Bones. This ebook demonstrated Yoga poses that should be modified for (and those that should be avoided by) people with osteoporosis. Jayelle went on to develop a training program for Yoga teachers.

In 2011, I completed my Yoga Teacher Training. During the course, I was asked by the instructor and several fellow students (each with low bone density) to present my ideas on Yoga and osteoporosis.

In the weeks following my presentation I noticed a significant improvement in postural alignment during practice, especially among classmates who had been diagnosed with osteopenia.

This experience demonstrated to me that even a small amount of information on posture and Yoga for people with osteoporosis could go a long way to improving their Yoga practice.

It encouraged me to revise, update and expand the original Yoga for Better Bones publication and turn it into a published book that many people could access. And here it is!

About This Book

This book will teach you how to practice Yoga safely. It is about understanding how your bones respond to stress in both a positive and negative way. It is also about understanding why modifications should be introduced in the Yoga practice for someone concerned about the health of their bones.