As Chiropractors, we are often asked what is the best exercise to support recovery.
Whatever the pain or ache, we provide answers on a daily basis to “What is the best exercise to help my back pain?” or “What is the best exercise to strengthen my core?” Now, we can reveal our most common answer …. Yoga or Pilates. Most research in sport, health and exercise science, has not strayed far from proving that the beneficial effects of yoga-based moves are hard to beat. When it comes to Yoga, there is no need to reinvent the wheel. The poses in Yoga and moves in Pilates activate not only larger muscle groups, but also the smaller postural muscles and soft tissues which protect against injury and overuse throughout the spine. In addition, using Yoga amplifies the good effects of most exercises and helps prevent cardiovascular disease, say researchers from Laval University in Canada. They monitored the good effects of yoga on a group of 60 volunteers with hypertension (high blood pressure). All of them did 30 minutes of aerobic exercise five days a week, and half added yoga to the regimen and the others instead did stretching exercises. After three months, blood pressure levels were lower in both groups, but it had reduced more in the yoga group. Their systolic blood pressure was reduced by 10 mmHg compared to a reduction of 4 mmHg in the stretching group. Yoga also reduced the resting heart rate and an overall risk of developing heart disease over the next 10 years. So, the positive effects of Yoga are not only upon the spine, posture and musculature, but extend to the circulatory system, general health and longevity.
OM to that!
Ref: Canadian Journal of Cardiology, 2022; doi: 10.1016/j.cjca.2022.09.019