Healthy Joint Stress: Through the Hands of a Yogi

The purpose of some yoga postures is to stress the joints in a beneficial manner. We'll explore the different forms of stress that can be placed on a joint so that your students can make the appropriate choices when practicing.

By Paul Grilley

Some yoga postures stress the joints of the body to stimulate their strength and flexibility. There are two fundamentally different types of stress: tension and compression. Yogis need to know the difference between the two.

Tension is the familiar sensation of tissues being stretched. Compression is the sensation of tissues being pressed or pushed together. Both of these stresses are beneficial if done in moderation.

When a yogi is stretching a joint, he is stretching a ligament, a tendon, or both. When a yogi is compressing a joint, he is compressing bones. We can make these distinctions clearer with some simple hand exercises. The lessons we learn with our hands apply to all the other joints of our body.

Practical Hand Study

The forearm houses the muscles most responsible for clenching the fist or extending the fingers. If you palpate (touch) and squeeze the muscles of the forearm starting near the elbow and work toward the wrist, you should notice that the muscles are soft and malleable nearer the elbow but become smaller, harder and more string-like nearer the wrist. These string-like structures are actually tendons. They are extensions of the forearm muscles, and they connect the muscles with the finger joints. The tendons on the back of the hand extend and spread the fingers to open the palm. The tendons on the palm side of the hand close the fingers into a clenched fist. Muscles shorten and become hard when contracted. They lengthen and become soft when relaxed. The tendons feel tough and fibrous whether the muscles are tensed or relaxed.

To experience this phenomenon, palpate the muscles of your forearm near the elbow while alternately extending your fingers and clenching your fist. You should be able to feel the muscles tense and relax. But if you palpate your wrist while extending and clenching your hand, it should feel very different. The tendons near your wrist don't tense and relax the way muscles do; they are simply pulled and released by the muscles of the forearm.

When muscles contract, the tendons pull on the bones and the joints are compressed. This limits their range of motion but makes the joints more stable. A simple example should make this clear.

First, use your left hand to wiggle and bend the fingers of your right hand while it is relaxed. The joints of your right hand fingers are easy to bend and straighten. Take hold of the middle finger of your right hand and gently pull on it. You should be able to feel the joint of the first knuckle gently stretching as you pull and release your middle finger. This is only possible because your muscles are relaxed.

Now extend the fingers of your right hand as hard as you can and stretch the palm open. If you maintain this tension it is very difficult to pull and stretch the knuckle of the middle finger as before. This is because the tendons are pulling on the bones and compressing them together. This makes the joint more stable but less mobile.

Muscular Tension in Action

Muscular tension compresses the joints and thereby limits their range of motion. Sometimes this is desirable, and sometimes it isn't. If you wish to prevent a joint from reaching its full range of motion, muscular tension is favorable. But if you are attempting to stretch the joint to its full range of motion, muscular tension is not a good idea.

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