Osteopathy in Yoga

First of all, it is necessary to know what is meant by the term Yoga Osteopathy. Straightforward osteopathy, as most people know, is the skill of treating certain disorders and conditions by manipulating the skeletal and articulatory systems of the body. Yoga osteopathy is basic­ally the same, but all the manipulations used in yoga osteopathy are “direct descendants” of the Asanas and Mudras of Hatha Yoga.

Yoga osteopathy is a means of assisting a patient to perform certain movements, specially selected from the Asanas and Mudras of Hatha Yoga for their therapeutic qualities.

When we consider that large number of peripheral nerves emerging from the spine and reaching out to carry impulses to and from points of the body as far away as the toes, or as near as the “back of the neck,” we soon realize how a slight disalignment of the vertebral column could cause the nerves to register pain in practically any part of the body.

The nervous system is very complex, and in order to gain a better under­standing of the basic principles of pain caused by derangements of the spine or skeleton in general, you should study the diagram of the main peripheral spinal nerves.

Pain causes the muscles in the vicinity of the pain to contract, and more often than not, contraction of those muscles causes the pain to increase so that a vicious circle is created - pain causing muscles to contract, which in turn cause more pain, and consequently, greater contraction. Eventually, the muscles reach a state of contraction where further contraction is impossible, and the sufferer must endure constant pain and limited mobility due to “stiff” contracted muscles.

Prolapsed intervertebral disc (slipped disc), lumbago, and sciatica are just a few of the conditions which are familiar to most people and can cause considerable suffering due to the vicious circle of pain, contr­action, pain, etc., resulting from a slight derangement of the vertebral column.

The initial pain can be caused by a sudden movement, which causes a disalignment of the vertebral column. On the other hand, it may be caused by exposure to cold, or sitting in a draft, which could cause prolonged contraction of the muscles. There are hundreds of different possible causes, but in practically every case, the initial pain is due to part of the vertebral column or a contracted muscle exerting pressure on a nerve.