348: Yoga for Arthritis with Dr. Steffany Moonaz
Age Less / Live More
Lucas Rockwood
4.8 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 27 February 2019
⏱️ 43 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
After the age of 40, there is less space between your spinal vertebrae than when you were 20. This steady degeneration of tissues happens predictably but can be exacerbated by weight, high stress, extreme athletics, and even accidents. Aside from the natural wear and tear on our joints, many people also suffer from autoimmune attacks which affect the soft tissues, causing pain, inflammation, and even deformity in extreme cases. We’re talking about arthritis. And, not surprisingly, yoga can be a very effective management strategy for anyone with these problems.
On this week’s show, we’ll help define and understand the many different conditions of arthritis, and we’ll explore ways to reduce and even eliminate symptoms through movement.
What You’ll Learn:
- How “arthritis” is a general term for hundreds of conditions
- The difference between wear and tear joint degeneration vs. autoimmune conditions
- Why knees, hips, and low back are the most problematic
- How x-rays and scans can give insight into joint-space narrowing
- The risk of rheumatoid cachexia that includes muscle loss
- Responsible use of cortisone, ibuprofen, and other medications
- Why strong quads can add years of life to your knees
ABOUT OUR GUEST
Dr. Steffany Moonaz founded Yoga for Arthritis after eight years at Johns Hopkins University where she studied the effects of yoga for people living with arthritis. She now serves as the Director of Clinical and Academic Research at the Maryland University of Integrative Health, which offers the nation's only Masters of Science in Yoga Therapy.
She continues to conduct research on the effects of yoga for chronic pain and joint conditions, and she mentors yoga teachers, yoga therapists, and emerging researchers. She is passionate about ensuring that yoga practices are safe, welcoming, and appropriate for people with arthritis nationwide.
Links & Resources:
Nutritional Tip of the Week:
- Sllimming Tea
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | When I was 27 years old I had a student come up after one of my Power Vignasa classes holding her wrist and it was an older student. |
| 0:11.0 | She was in her 60s and she told me I have rheumatoid arthritis, my wrists |
| 0:16.0 | hurt, but my doctor told me I need to exercise and recommended yoga, just wanted to let you know if I |
| 0:21.5 | need to modify some poses that's why. |
| 0:24.0 | And this concept of somebody with arthritis, sore joints, visibly deformed hands, |
| 0:31.0 | and the doctor recommending them to come to yoga really got my gears spinning and |
| 0:35.2 | I started researching this concept of movement as medicine, particularly in the case of rheumatoid |
| 0:40.9 | and osteoarthritis. And it's something that's very very interesting |
| 0:44.4 | counterintuitive the old advice to just rest and relax is no longer the best |
| 0:49.3 | advice in terms of managing these very, very common conditions, |
| 0:52.7 | to very different conditions as well, |
| 0:54.4 | which we'll unpack on this show. |
| 0:56.3 | We'll be chatting with a yoga therapist. |
| 0:57.9 | The word therapist gets tossed around a lot in yoga communities. |
| 1:00.3 | Most people are not qualified at all. |
| 1:01.8 | Our guest on this week's show is PhD and yoga therapist and |
| 1:06.7 | Specializing in arthritis specifically |
| 1:09.7 | So whether you have the autoimmune arthritic condition that is so common or even more common of course |
| 1:16.0 | osteoarthritis the wear and tear condition or you know somebody who does or you're a teacher |
| 1:20.4 | and some of your students who I think will get really great value |
| 1:23.0 | from this week's show if you have questions or comments send him to me at |
| 1:26.0 | podcast at yoga body.com and enjoy the show. Hello and welcome everyone welcome to the Lucas Rockwood show |
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