Arthritis

[CoreyStory]

I had a student the other day who has haemochromatosis. And asked if yoga or in particular the stretch therapy sequences for hands/writsts etc. will be good for his joints. He said sometimes opening a jar can cause his joints to 'ache' for hours afterwards.

Now I totally understand that general questions like this are so hard for any teacher to answer - the legalities, the scope of one's own knowledge & limitations to knowing the persons health background information.

In general though - regarding arthritis and this particular form of it... Does anyone know of the benefits/ contra-indications using the PNF techniques?

Will this assist in decreasing the inflammation that occurs in the joints

Researching online for myself I found that general exercise is good/ better diet-lifestyle... Pretty much the basic changes for anyone to live a healthier life....

[Kit_L]

Corey, reducing muscle tension generally reduces the discomfort of the 'wear and tear' kind of arthritis. If the arthritis is the auto-immune kind, one needs to be even more gentle, but in general those sufferers find at least some relief longer term. Some soreness immediately afterwards is normal too, but as long as it passes, no major problem, IMHO.

[Jim Pickles]

I just did a quick search on arthritis and PNF stretching. I did not find that it is contraindicated. There are reports that it is helpful - for the obvious reason, that it is good at increasing the range of motion of the joints, and by loading and unloading joints, can increase the transport of nutrients into the joint. There was no mention of it in relation to haemochromotosis.

The only medical paper I found was from Taiwan:

Kaohsiung J Med Sci. 2009 Jun;25(6):306-15. doi: 10.1016/S1607-551X(09)70521-2.

Effects of different stretching techniques on the outcomes of isokinetic exercise in patients with knee osteoarthritis.

Weng MC¹, Lee CL, Chen CH, Hsu JJ, Lee WD, Huang MH, Chen TW.

Author information

• ¹Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
  
• 
  
• Abstract
  

We recruited 132 subjects with bilateral knee osteoarthritis (Altman Grade II) to compare the effects of different stretching techniques on the outcomes of isokinetic muscle strengthening exercises. Patients were randomly divided into four groups (I-IV). The patients in Group I received isokinetic muscular strengthening exercises, Group II received bilateral knee static stretching and isokinetic exercises, Group III received proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) stretching and isokinetic exercises, and Group IV acted as controls. Outcomes were measured by changes in Lequesne's index, range of knee motion, visual analog pain scale, and peak muscle torques during knee flexion and extension. Patients in all the treated groups experienced significant reductions in knee pain and disability, and increased peak muscle torques after treatment and at follow-up. However, only patients in Groups II and III had significant improvements in range of motion and muscle strength gain during 60 degrees/second angular velocity peak torques. Group III demonstrated the greatest increase in muscle strength gain during 180 degrees/second angular velocity peak torques. In conclusion, stretching therapy could increase the effectiveness of isokinetic exercise in terms of functional improvement in patients with knee osteoarthritis. PNF techniques were more effective than static stretching.