Can Yoga Help with Chiropractic Care?

In the past decade, there has been a noticeable increase in those that practice yoga and those that receive chiropractic care — and for good reason! Both offer numerous benefits for both the mind and body. It might not seem like it, but chiropractic care and yoga have a lot in common. When you add both chiropractic and yoga to your health care regimen, you will see even more benefits, particularly if you are suffering from an injury.

When yoga is practiced properly, it can reduce blood sugar and stress levels, increase endurance, flexibility, and balance and strengthen your muscles and joints. Chiropractic improves the function of the nervous system, promotes better joint mobility, and corrects misalignments in the body (just to name a few benefits). Here’s how the two compliment each other.

1. Yoga focuses on strengthening ligaments and joints.

Think about your exercise routine. More often than not, most of us focus on major muscle groups, leaving the small ligaments and joints weak. Yoga is a form of exercise that focuses on all muscles of the body, even the little ones you didn’t even realize you had! When you increase your strength in smaller muscles, the larger muscles are required to do less work and your body is more evenly balanced. This can prevent injury and reduce recovery time if you already have an injury. Yoga promotes strength throughout the entire body, making the body better able to receive and respond to chiropractic care. A strong body is more responsive to chiropractic than one that is uneven and sore.

Yoga encourages healing.

Because yoga poses are aimed to elongate and stretch the body, they release stress and tension. Practicing a few yoga move before your next adjustment can warm-up the body and clear your mind. That way, we can get straight to treating your problem as you will already be relaxed when you arrive. As yoga promotes relaxation, it also readies the body to heal.

Yoga increases mobility and range of motion…just like chiropractic.

If you have sustained a major injury or have a specific deep-rooted condition, we may have to spend more time “prepping” the body before we can treat the injury or solve the issues. This can cause frustration for patients seeking immediate relief. Just as practicing yoga can help promote healing through relaxation, it can also increase the body’s range of motion and flexibility, which will help save work for your chiropractic team. Like chiropractic care, yoga is beneficial for those suffering from joint, hip, back, or neck pain. The more you practice yoga outside of the chiropractic office, the more in-depth work we will be able to accomplish during your visit.

Like chiropractic, yoga helps prevent future injury.

Both chiropractic care and yoga help the body maintain proper alignment, stretch tense muscles, promote balance, and ensure that the joints are operating properly. All of these factors create a healthier body that is less likely to sustain injuries. When done together, you may find that your results are much greater than when done alone.

Yoga and chiropractic care teach you about your body.

Both yoga instructors and chiropractors know a lot about how the body works, and you should too! When you have an awareness of proper posture and overall body function, you can lead a healthier lifestyle. If you’d like to learn more about how chiropractic and yoga can help you, contact us or request an appointment.