Being able to relax your body and mind is important for everyone, but more so if you have cerebral palsy. Yoga consists of poses and movements that can both relax the tense muscles that come with cerebral palsy and strengthen your weak muscles. Regular yoga may also help reduce your stress and help you cope with your condition.
Background
Cerebral palsy refers to a group of disorders where the brain's ability to coordinate movement is impaired. The specific symptoms of cerebral palsy vary. People may have abnormally tight muscles and joints, difficulty walking, or weak or unresponsive muscles. Doctors cannot cure cerebral palsy; however, treatments may ease the symptoms. Physicians commonly prescribe exercise to improve a cerebral palsy patient's balance and coordination.
Theory
Yoga focuses on performing slow, controlled movements with the aim of stretching and relaxing your muscles. Yoga also helps to strengthen certain muscles as you hold certain poses over time, and it can improve your posture by relaxing and strengthening the muscles around your spine. As cerebral palsy primarily affects your movement and coordination by making your muscles overly tense or weak and under-responsive, yoga may ease your symptoms of cerebral palsy by relaxing muscles that are overly tense or strengthening muscles that are too weak. Yoga's emphasis on a slow progression through poses may also make it a safer alternative to resistance training to strengthen muscles.
Evidence
Researchers have yet to conduct direct clinical trials that assess the effectiveness of yoga for treating cerebral palsy. However, in a 2009 article for the journal "Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology," doctor William Oppenheim says that therapists who specialize in treating cerebral palsy believe that yoga can help people with this condition. The National Center on Physical Activity and Disability website states that regular yoga sessions can help people with cerebral palsy improve their muscle tone as well as reduce tension in muscles and joints. Yoga may also help children and adults with cerebral palsy by stretching and realigning the spine.
Psychological Benefits
Practicing yoga may also make you feel better not only physically but mentally as well. Yoga may help you deal with the stress of coping with cerebral palsy, says Oppenheim. Yoga's postures and associated breathing techniques help to calm you down and reduce your stress levels. Learning and becoming proficient with yoga poses may also improve your confidence.
Approach
Most of the benefit of doing yoga for cerebral palsy comes from holding the poses, according to therapist Sonia Summers from Yoga for the Special Child. Summers says that holding a yoga pose stretches and relaxes your muscles, which alleviates the muscle rigidity common in cerebral palsy. Holding yoga poses also provides light resistance exercise for under-toned muscles. So, if you decide to take up yoga to help with cerebral palsy, focus on poses that stretch your tense muscles and exercise your weaker muscles.
References
- MedlinePlus: Cerebral Palsy
- Spine-Health: Yoga for Back Problems
- "Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology"; Complementary and Alternative Methods in Cerebral Palsy; William L. Oppenheim; October 2009
- NCPAD: Benefits of Yoga for Children and Youth with CP
- MayoClinic.com: Yoga: Tap into the Many Health Benefits
- Yoga for the Special Child: Cerebral Palsy and Yoga
