The Skeleton - The Skeletal System and Yoga
Written by: mec-mec
Yoga is over 5,000 years old – the benefits found its way across the continents and it has continuously collecting patronage from people worldwide. People practice Yoga to heal injury or disease, to re-shape their body, gain strength, flexibility, and balance, and to reduce the harm of stress on the body. It is the only therapy that can even help further the patient’s spiritual journey. This section takes a closer look at how your body functions and how Yoga can benefit your body.
Skeletal System
The human skeleton protects the softer parts of the body (i.e. the muscles and organs), enables us to move, produces blood cells in the bone marrow, acts as a store for many minerals the body needs particularly calcium and phosphorus, and gives the body its general shape. If the skeleton of a body is suddenly removed, the body will sink to the floor in a shapeless mass.
Our body depends on an intricate framework of 206 bones, which are surrounded by muscle and connective tissue that allow movement to take place. Anatomists divide the skeleton into two parts: the axial skeleton and the appendicular skeleton. The previous consists of the skull (28 bones), the vertebrae (26), the ribs (24), and the hyoid and sternum. The latter consists of the shoulders, arms and hands (64 bones) and the pelvis, legs, and feet (26).
The bones that make up the skeleton consist of a rigid, brittle honeycomb of calcium-rich salts interspersed with an organic template containing the cells that build the bone. The actual bone itself consists of a hard outer layer and a much softer, sponge-like inner core. This inner core of porous bone is where the marrow is formed.
Despite their solid appearance, the bones that make up the skeleton are living tissues, growing and reshaping themselves to the strains that are placed upon them.
Yoga and the Skeletal System
Yoga helps in the realignment of various mechanical disorders like slipped disc, hiatus hernia, umbilical hernia, arthritis, cervical spondylitis, and many others. For a slipped disc, the bony column and muscles are pulled apart so that the disc is not pressurized.
Various Yoga Exercises are employed in the practice to help in dealing with various medical problems. These Asanas can be done sitting, standing, lying down, and upside down. All of these poses place varied stresses and strains on the organs, muscles, bones, ligaments, and nerves.
Asanas are designed to improve health and bring energy to the body and mind. These free all the body’s different joints, opening them up to relieve pressure on the protective cartilage and restore correct alignment of the bones. By keeping muscles and ligaments healthy and posture correct, you can prevent damages to the joints.
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