Caitlin Selva, PT, DPT, RYT, will flow with you through a 30-minute yoga class, helping you relax your mind and awaken your body through an invigorating sequence. Don’t miss out!

Watch The Video Below:

Missed a workout? Visit our Youtube channel  for more exercises, workouts, and advice from your expert PTs and OTs!

Caitlin Selva, PT, DPT at our E 56th St clinic and Registered Yoga Teacher, guides you through a revitalizing Vinyasa Yoga sequence for our #MovementMonday series on Instagram. No equipment is needed, just grab a mat and you’re good to go!

Watch The Video Below:

Make sure to join us every week for #MovementMonday, where we’ll post a live workout right on our Instagram page!

Missed a workout? Visit our Youtube channel for more exercises, workouts, and advice from your expert PTs and OTs!

Yoga is a very popular practice, and a growing trend over the past few years. A google search for ‘yoga classes’ in the New York City area alone yields plenty of results, from nearby classes to online tutorials you can follow along with at home. Originating from India, this form of exercise combines a physical and mental practice to bring harmony and stress relief. And with many types of yoga to choose from, including Hatha, Bikram, Astanga and more, it’s no wonder it’s taken off ! While yoga can be super beneficial, it can also cause issues or pain if not done properly. Phaeleau Cunneen, PT, CHT, OCS, shares his professional advice to ensure you’re practicely yoga safely to get the most out of your practice:

Pay Attention to Quality

1. Yoga has exploded in popularity and with that increase, many new yoga teachers have also come onto the scene, some with more experience than others. The quality of instruction, then, has been diluted a bit, so make sure you are working with an experienced and highly rated instructor. Don’t be afraid to speak to your instructor and find out more about their training and education.
2. Many yoga classes can be overcrowded, so that the instruction and attention to detail and form you receive is less than ideal. Try to find a yoga class with less students, or enough that you are able to receive some attention to your form as you practice.

You Don’t Have To Be The Valedictorian of Yoga

3. We are experiencing the rise of a fitness culture where more and more people want to be pushed beyond their limits by instructors, whether it be through P90X, CrossFit, boot camps, or tough mudders. While it’s admirable to want to push your personal limits, you should understand that safe (and effective) training takes time.
4. Many of us are walking around with slight disc bulges, even disc herniation. They are not always symptomatic, but that doesn’t mean that they are not there. Before practicing Yoga, consult a physical therapist to have your body mechanics evaluated.  This way you can understand your body’s limits and any underlying conditions you may have.  This will not only help your Yoga practice, but will also help you train up to the more challenging poses safely.
5. Most of us spend most of day with our neck in a forward head position – staring at a computer, looking down at our phone or iPad. The neck is in a flexed position for the majority of our waking hours. The after work we rush to class and go into a shoulder stand! The shoulder stand exerts extreme amount of posterior forces on the cervical spine.

Listen to Your Body

6. If you develop chronic pain from any form of exercise, stop! Don’t “suck it up” or listen to “no pain no gain” chants in your head. Do not continue doing something that is hurting your body because of peer pressure or because everyone else you know does it and it helps them.
7. Serious injuries can occur in any sport from improper form, improper supervision, poor strength and flexibility, and performing a stance or exercise that your body is not ready for.

Phaeleau’s Bottom Line: Although yoga benefits millions, it can lead to injury if you have an unknown preexisting condition, weakness to key stabilizers of the neck and shoulders, poor posture, and or poor flexibility. Listen to your body; it is smarter than you think it is. Chronic pain is often your body trying to tell you something. Your friendly neighborhood physical therapist can help translate!

Treatment Options

A pelvic floor physical therapist can perform an evaluation of the pelvic floor muscles and help release and stretch tight muscles to improve pain and muscle tension. They will also create a tailored stretching, mindfulness, and mobility program to help maintain and facilitate pelvic floor relaxation.

Techniques for calming the nervous system and relaxing the pelvic floor on your own:

• Cat/cow: Come onto you hands and knees. Arch and hunch your back slowly, continuing to breathe throughout the movement.

• Happy baby pose: Lay on your back. Grab onto the inside of your feet or behind the knees and bring the knees toward your chest and out and away from your body.

• Pigeon pose: bring one knee bent in front of you and the other straight behind you. Use your hands to adjust the intensity of the stretch. You can fold forward onto your elbows if it is comfortable.

These stretches should feel gentle. Try not to push to the point of increased pain to avoid reflexive tension on the muscles. Continue to breathe throughout the stretches to facilitate relaxation.

If you are experiencing pelvic pain or are interested in learning more about treatment options, come see a pelvic floor physical therapist at SPEAR today. You can also learn more about how pelvic floor physical therapy can help you here!

“This month, we are featuring a very special recovery story about our patient, Gina!

Gina has been a yoga instructor for the last 30 years. Working in the fitness field, naturally she understands the anatomy of the body quite well. She couldn’t however, figure out why she was having such extreme pain in her jaw.

“I had complete immobility in my jaw,” Gina shares. “I could hear cracking. I could barely open my mouth, and couldn’t eat properly, either.” Gina visited her dentist in pain. That’s when she found she was dealing with Tempero-Mandibular Dysfunction (TMD); this is when you experience pain in the joint that connects your jaw to your skull (also known as your Tempero-Mandibular Joint, or TMJ).

Gina immediately sought physical therapy treatment in hopes of becoming pain-free once again, prioritizing finding someone who specifically specialized in her condition. That’s when she met her therapist, Shaun Whited, and began treatment at our E 56th Street location. Gina admits, her first session seemed bizarre: “Suddenly I had a stranger with his fingers in my mouth, and manipulating my neck!” Her hesitation quickly dissipated—she noticed she felt notably better after just the first visit. “Shaun was warm, funny and knowledgeable,” Gina recalls. She knew she was in good hands and had full trust in his ability to get her back to life.

The rest of the SPEAR team on the floor proved to be incredibly helpful as well. “Everyone from the front desk staff to the floor team were supportive, enthusiastic, and on top of everything. They were willing to answer any questions I had and were always pleasant—they even recognized me after just the first few visits.”

By the end of her treatment duration, Gina was 100% back to her normal self, making a full recovery. Gina is now fortunately cured of her TMJ issue. “If I had another episode,” she notes, “I would look forward to coming back. If you’re considering coming to SPEAR, you can’t go wrong.”