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| A student of mine has High blood preasure and has ask me if she should avoid
child pose. |
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| Gia, in case of high blood pressure your student should not put the forehead all the way down onto the mat but form fists with her hands, place them on top of each other and rest her forehead on that "column" instead. This also helps slightly overweight people like me to keep the bum on the heels and breathe easier.
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| Gia:
This is my response. Tell your student to do a child pose and observe herself. Then she should find the time she feels fine in that pose and after doing the pose. If she never feels fine, then only she should avoid the pose. Otherwise, she should do it for the time she feels fine in the pose, and afterwards.
This also applies to Headstand.
Neel Kulkarni
www.authenticyoga.org |
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| Does she get dizzy when coming up from the pose?
I'm personally am less concerned about your students blood pressure in Balasana than I would be in some inversions.
I would not prevent the student from balasana.
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 2479
  
Location: A Blue State |
Is there any solid medical advice about high blood pressure and yoga.
Inversions are often mentioned as a no-no, since the blood pressure in the
brain is much higher when you are upside down (or so it would seem --- are
there any measurements?). Would one expect people with a regular headstand
practice to be more susceptible to brain aneuryms or stroke? What are the facts?
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| Dear Brother Bay Guy:
Therre can not be any medical advice on Yoga. Because, as you might actually be told otherwise, Yoga is a Science when correctly understood, and Medicine is an Art (NOT a science) when correctly understood. Medicine is a magical art where a symptom is treated by any substance which removes that symptom, and this property is attributed to the substance, whereas the property is that of the living body which removes the symptom in reaction to the substance. Now, this substance does NOT always remove the symtpom. Therefore, the medicine is not a science. Now, when Yoga is looked at from the point of view of Medicine, the question of Medical Advice on Yoga comes, and then Yoga will be called as Medicine, what is called Alternative Medicine. To call Yoga as Medicine is a ridiculous thing.
But, anyway, there is NO such a thing as a person with blood pressure should NOT do headstand. Actually, what they should do is written in my previous post in this thread, which you can see.
Regards
Neel Kulkarni
www.authenticyoga.org |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
 
| Bay Guy - I did read about a study that showed bp does not raise during inversions but the rate of flow increased, which is good. My understanding is that it is not inverting that is the problem but the straining, breath holding etc. Someone with many years of experience and the ability to observe the student VERY closely could take their students into headstand with high bp but I wouldn't want to do it myself. |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 2479
Location: A Blue State | If you remember where you saw the study, I'd like to read it.
Coulter's "Anatomy of Hatha Yoga" shows some stuff on blood
pressure suggesting that it is very high in the brain during inversions,
but it appears to me to be based on hydrostatic calculations, neglecting
the active role of the circulatory system in pumping blood and managing
the pressure. It may be lower than what he shows if the circulation is
strong...it would be correct for a corpse.  That's why I want to
find some measurements. |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
| Sadly, I did not see the actual study but read about it in a yoga mag - probably YJ. But I have heard opinions that say the body is remarkably effective at maintaining bp to various body parts, which is perhaps why it can be difficult to regulate when the body decides it should be high? |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 2479
Location: A Blue State | Just this week, I heard someone tell an audience of 50 that being
upside-down could lead to burst capillaries, stroke, etc etc. Again,
it was based on the idea that the body has no internal regulation of
its blood pressure (you just get what hydrostatics gives you, as if being
upside down were the same as putting your head under 1.5 or 2 meters
of water). I'd really like to track down some measurements of blood
pressure during inversions.
I would imagine that serious yogis would all being dying of strokes if
there were in fact a "severe" increase in cranial blood pressure during
Sirsasana and Sarvangasana. Obviously, there is some significant
change (we can all feel that), but what's really going on and what are
the risks (if any!!!)?
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| My blood pressure, personally, is very low and I do get dizzy sometimes coming out of certain poses, especially the downward dog. But, my cardiologist told me to continue and just be careful. It's all about knowing personal limits! |
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| To spite they say to be careful doing inversions if you have high blood pressure, it's the inversions that they say helps reduce high blood pressure. Go figure. |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 2479
Location: A Blue State | This is why I'd like to see more physiological data on the subject.
I guess it helps that the brain is essentially surrounded by fluid whose
pressure will also rise (like blood pressure) when one is inverted, so that
the tissues won't feel added stress. But I'd still like to see some measurements...
Edited by Bay Guy 2005-06-21 9:47 PM
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| There is a centralised, scientific resource called Biomed which may have something on this. It is public access but you need to register to get best use of it. They automatically cascade your registration to the contributor libraries (i.e. one registration access to all). Some libraries are pay for view but most offer the paper synopsis for free so you can get some idea of whether you want to buy the whole paper or not.
http://www.biomedcentral.com/
Fee |
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| Possible source of the info on inverting and strokes, etc.
From http://www.electronichealing.co.uk/products/inversionfaq.htm :
"3. Does inversion cause strokes / popped blood vessels?
A medical study published in 1983 by Dr. Goldman and colleagues showed that inverted patients experienced an increase in blood pressure and internal eye pressure. The media widely reported the study, warning that stroke was a potential result of inversion.
Two years following the inversion study, Dr. Goldman reversed his original position, stating, "New research shows that you are at no more of a stroke risk hanging upside down than if you are exercising right side up." More in-depth research found that the body actually has mechanisms that prevent damage from hanging upside down. In fact, while oscillating (inverting with movement), some of the patients' blood pressure actually dropped a few points. (*Note: these studies were based on patients in generally good health. Make sure you review contraindications prior to inverting.)
Dr. Goldman stated that the warnings to the public about the dangers of inversion were "grossly inflated" and that "in the 15 years these devices have been in use, there has not been one single stroke case reported, nor any serious injuries." (This statement, to the best of our knowledge, is as true today as when Dr. Goldman made it 17 years ago).
Other universities, including Marquette, Iowa, and Portland studied inversion during this time, with results that also helped to vindicate Inversion as a healthy physical activity." |
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High Blood preasure
