Noticed a difference in your joints lately? If your muscles and joints feel stiff and sore, your normal range of motion could be restricted. Good range of motion is essential whether you're copying the latest TikTok dance moves or reaching for a box of cereal on a kitchen cabinet shelf. Practicing yoga could help you improve flexibility and movement.
What Causes Reduced Range of Motion?
Every joint in your body has a natural range of motion. Take your arm, for example. Your shoulder joint is designed to help your arm extend over your head, to the side, across your body, and in a complete circle. If your range of motion is poor, you may notice that your arm feels tight and doesn't move as far or as easily as it once did. Range of motion issues can affect joints in any part of the body, including those in the back, neck, legs, arms, and hips.
Poor range of motion may be caused by:
- Injuries
- Inflammation
- Poor Posture
- Muscle Imbalances
- Swelling
- Tight Muscles and Soft Tissues
- Ligament or Tendon Problems
- Scar Tissue Around Joints
- Aging
Improving Range of Motion with Yoga
With its focus on flexibility, yoga offers the perfect way to increase range of motion. Practicing yoga can:
- Loosen Tight Muscles. Yoga poses stretch major muscle groups, decreasing stiffness and increasing flexibility and range of motion. The cobra pose, which involves lying on the floor on your stomach and lifting your chest and head off the mat, improves spinal mobility and flexibility. Downward facing dog, the classic yoga pose that creates an inverted "V" shape with your body, keeps hamstrings and calf muscles loose.
- Improve Overall Flexibility. Yoga doesn't just improve range of motion in one area. It targets the entire body. During yoga class, you'll perform a series of poses that work every muscle and joint in your body. Yoga poses are typically held for a few counts, allowing your muscles to gradually loosen and stretch.
- Boost Joint Lubrication. Synovial fluid found around joints keeps the bones lubricated and allows for easy movements. Yoga helps your body produce and circulate the fluid.
- Balance Muscles. Limited range of motion, pain, and muscle stiffness can occur if the muscles in one side of your body are overdeveloped, while the muscles on the other side are too weak. Practicing yoga stretches tight muscles and strengthens weak muscles, ensuring that your body is correctly balanced. Warrior II, a pose that opens the hips and chest and lengthens the spine while strengthening the muscles in your core and legs, could help you avoid imbalances.
Yoga poses are paired with yogic breathing, a type of controlled breathing that you'll synchronize with your movements. Yogic breathing enhances relaxation, which loosens muscles and makes stretching easier. The breathing technique also improves awareness of your body. As you inhale and exhale, you'll note the position of your body, which will help you perform poses correctly.
Yoga offers an effective way to improve range of motion according to several research studies. College athletes who completed a 10-week series of yoga classes noted significant improvements in flexibility, balance, and joint angles, according to a study published in the International Journal of Yoga in 2016.
A group of researchers in China evaluated how yoga affected the balance and flexibility of female college students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Performing yoga for 16 weeks resulted in increases in flexibility in the lower back, legs, groin, and hips, according to the 2023 study, which was published in PLosOne.
Researchers didn't focus solely on college students. A systematic review and meta-analysis published in the International Journal of Older People Nursing in 2023 examined the benefits of yoga for people 60 and older. Researchers reported that yoga significantly improved flexibility, muscle strength, and balance while decreasing depression.
Feeling a little stiff? Find out how yoga can improve your range of motion. Get in touch with our studio for information about our yoga class schedule.
Sources:
International Journal of Yoga: Impact of 10 Weeks of Yoga Practice on Flexibility and Balance of College Athletes, Jan – June 2016
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4728955/
WebMD: The Health Benefits of Yoga, 9/29/2024
https://www.webmd.com/balance/the-health-benefits-of-yoga
PLoS One: The Effects of a Yoga Intervention on Balance and Flexibility in Female College Students During COVID-19: A Randomized Controlled Trial, 3/22/2023
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10032532/
PLoS One: The Effects of a Yoga Intervention on Balance and Flexibility in Female College Students During COVID-19: A Randomized Controlled Trial, 3/22/2023
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10032532/
International Journal of Older People Nursing: Effects of Yoga on Physical and Psychological Health Among Community-Dwelling Older Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis, 8/14/2023