Patients that have seen me know that I like to use and promote other exercises and sports outside the manual care and basic physiotherapy I give to them. I like to suggest to my patients these extracurricular activities by getting to know them and matching a “sport or activity” to their goals, health needs, personalities, and lifestyles. In doing so, I believe this leaves my patients with an empowering and enjoyable therapy that will benefit them for an entire lifetime.
When I analyze and recommend to my patients Bikram Yoga from a Western medical perspective, Bikram Yoga stretches, strengthens, challenges your balance (proprioception), works the cardiovascular system, exercises proper breathing techniques, and my personal favorite, detoxifies the body through the largest organ in the body (the skin) via sweating for 90 complete minutes. It is like I said, one of my favorite “prescriptions” to my patients for follow-up care. The 26 poses are also practiced the same way every time in a specific sequential order. So as a chiropractor, that makes it easy for me to point out the poses I want my patients to focus on with extra detail and/or care.
An example of a common case study I have in which I use Bikram Yoga as an adjunctive therapy are patients with chronic back problems. One of my cornerstone concepts I would like you to keep in mind is that “motion is lotion to the joints.” The problem many times with our hectic lifestyles is that we are moving, in hectic motions (or no motion at all), which is incorrect and over time, leaves our muscles weak, tight, and rigid. This will then cause our joints to articulate or move in a manner that will cause harm and disharmony throughout the rest of the body. Bikram Yoga reverses this process by moving every joint in the body in every direction they are supposed to go.
