Contents:
Hello Friends, This is the first of a four-part series on the shoulder joint, focusing specifically on the rotator cuff and its biomechanical relationship with the deltoid muscle. Let's begin by looking at the muscles that comprise the rotator cuff, starting with the subscapularis.
They are crucial in the success to achieve personal goals [ 24 - 27 ]. A Fresh Look at Anxiety Disorders. We are IntechOpen, the world's leading publisher of Open Access books. If the stressful events are easily identified, it is much more difficult to predict the subjective reactions to them. Only in certain circumstances can an experience of stress turn into a real illness. With this in mind, I want to call your attention to a new study from the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research.
As figure 1 illustrates, the subscapularis occupies the space, or fossa, at the front of the scapula. From there it attaches to the lesser tuberosity, a knob-like structure on the humerus bone at the front of th. Hi Folks, In our last post, we discussed joint rhythm for the shoulders. In this blog post I want to share some of my recent investigations on the biomechanics of the shoulder joint, with some specific tips for Down Dog.
Shoulder pain is one of the problems that comes up in yoga, especially with folks who are doing Vinyasa based practice. The underlying cause of the pain can be multifactorial, but it is frequently related to impingement of the rotator cuff and subsequent inflammatio.
Your thoracic diaphragm is the main engine for breathing, supplemented by the accessory muscles of your chest and abdomen. It is also an important postural muscle with functional connections to your pelvic floor. The thoracic diaphragm also showing psoas major muscle. In diaphragmatic breathing, you actively expand the abdomen during inhalation.
In this blog post we take a look at the fundamental anatomy of the sacroiliac, or SI joint. The SI joint is the articulation between the ilium and the sacrum on each side of the pelvis. As with other joints, it is comprised of the bony stabilizers, the static soft tissue or ligamentous stabilizers, and the dynamic muscular stabilizers. On the surface of the bone is the articular cartilage. The SI joint depends primarily on the stout ligaments that cross it for stability.
Dear Friends, In this blog post I go over the muscles of the pelvic floor. This is an essential structure for support of the pelvic organs; the muscles involved are also engaged in Moola Bandha. On to the pelvic floor The pelvic floor is comprised of a series of muscles including the piriformis, obturator internus, coccygeus, iliococcygeus, and pubococcygeus. These are illustrated in Figure 1. Other muscles involved include the deep and superficial transverse perineals, the.
Stretching, Aging and Your Down Dog. In this post I discuss how aging affects your body and some recent evidence from the scientific literature on how stretching--and Downward Dog--can help. This takes place to varying degrees throughout the range of motion of a joint and en. We recently covered the some key poses to strengthen your core, along with biomechanical cues to refine your work in Forearm Plank pose and Bird Dog pose. Side Forearm Plank is another awesome pose to strengthen your core while protecting your wrists.
You do this one by placing your forearm on the mat and attempting to drag it towards your feet, while engaging the core muscles on your sides to stabilize the lumbar pelvic complex. Keep your supporting arm the humerus bone straight up and down. Popularity Popularity Featured Price: Low to High Price: High to Low Avg.
The Key Muscles of Yoga: Scientific Keys Volume I Mar 12, Available for download now. The Key Poses of Yoga: Anatomy for Vinyasa Flow and Standing Poses: Yoga Mat Companion 1 Mar 01, Anatomy for Hip Openers and Forward Bends: Yoga Mat Companion 2 Apr 28, Anatomy for Arm Balances and Inversions: Yoga Mat Companion 4 Mar 01, Anatomy for Backbends and Twists: Yoga Mat Companion 3 Mar 01, Scientific Keys Volume 1: Provide feedback about this page. There's a problem loading this menu right now. Get fast, free shipping with Amazon Prime. Get to Know Us. English Choose a language for shopping.
Amazon Music Stream millions of songs. Amazon Advertising Find, attract, and engage customers. Amazon Drive Cloud storage from Amazon. Alexa Actionable Analytics for the Web. AmazonGlobal Ship Orders Internationally. Stress occurs when we have to respond to a stimulus from the external world: The first important consideration relates to the fact that stress is the result of a process of human adaptation to the environment. There are some specific mechanisms that underlie the identification of a response to stress: In addition to the "active" and "passive" reaction, characterized by inhibition, recent studies have demonstrated the existence of ways of reacting with a great intersubject variability.
We filter the stressor by attributing different and personal meanings and values to it depending on a wide range of constitutional and experiential factors, and also on the context. These strategies are strictly individual and are linked to the personal characteristics of the subject and their historical experience.
The term stress stands for stressful event or stressor , a term that describes the stimulus factor that causes the reaction. Stressors can be major factors the loss of work , minor factors small facts of everyday life, or hassles , acute factors accidents and chronic factors a very competitive business environment [ 8 ]. The stress effect is potentially pathogenic when the conditions from which it is derived are chronic or recur with some frequency.
Selye also distinguished between eustress or good stress and distress bad stress ; such terms were originally included in the broader definition of stress but were immediately indicated as distinct from one another. Selye stated that stress is an inevitable consequence of living, but that distress appears when the requests to which the person is exposed both in the psychological and physiological dimensions overtake the capacity and energy that the person has or believes to have to maintain the homeostasis.
The stimulus demand can, therefore, have a more or less acceptable meaning [ 7 , 9 ]. This is, however, only one aspect of Eustress.
It is the individual that determines whether the stressor will generate eustress or distress. The eustress is the primary result of a positive perception of the stressor, while the distress is the result of a negative perception.
The classification depends on how the stressor is perceived by the individual, on which kind of value is assigned to it. Selye suggested that learning how to respond to stressful stimuli with positive emotions, such as hope, maximizes eustress and minimizes the distress, whereas responding with negative emotions, such as despair, greatly increases the distress [ 9 ]. In the perception of stressor, and when assigning of its meaning, a key characteristic of the individual is involved: Self-efficacy is the belief of being able to control the environmental challenges by deploying an adaptive action, and, according to the social cognitive theory, strongly influences the effectiveness of self-perceived behaviors being positively associated with adaptation [ 13 ].
In fact, it is positively related to an active strategy and negatively to a passive reaction [ 14 ]. In the aforementioned works, Selye introduced the notion of "general adaptation syndrome" to describe the way in which the body copes with stressful events; he distinguished three phases that follow this order: The distress, specifically, is characterized by a stage of alarm, a stage of resistance, and a stage of functional exhaustion. In his model, the same event, as already mentioned, may have different meanings in different subjects, and it is unquestionable that when confronted with stressful factors different people react in different ways with quite different outcomes.
The ideal response requires strategies which are active but also multiple, flexible, and tailored to the specific factors or stressful events in action. The stress response is then modulated in two ways by the psychological characteristics of the individual: Working environments put us in connection with our duties and expectations which often do not coincide with the reality of the context and with a "forced socialization. Over time, this has led to the identification of two areas of research: We must remember that the measured stress level may not be strictly related to the work environment and that subjective aspects play a decisive role in the type of reaction.
Being subjective, this measure allows us to identify the sources of stress that have occurred in causing discomfort and to certify its effects only [ 4 ]. If the stressful events are easily identified, it is much more difficult to predict the subjective reactions to them. In fact, as already stated, the individual response to stress depends on constitutional and experiential factors. There are also particular types of stress and forms of anxiety i.
Individuals with high levels of social concern are very uncomfortable when thinking someone is looking at him, as he often fears negative evaluations by others.
Feeling apprehensive about someone becoming aware of their shortcomings, or not approving what they do, is a cause of great anxiety for these individuals, especially when the feared opinion comes from their superiors. People with high social concerns usually see their image as is potentially perceived by others, and believe that physical appearance is very important to establish positive and functional relationships with others.
This induces a dysfunctional groping to inspire confidence at all costs, with the negative and unwanted pitfall to behave ridiculously. These elements can originate a condition defined mismatch [ 17 - 19 ]. Concerns about the image perceived by others can lead to the complete avoidance of any potentially stressful situations and, consequently, to a state of interpersonal closure and loss of motivation to affiliate to others [ 15 , 20 ].
In this context, it is very important to prevent negative stress, distress, which occurs when the situation needs an effort to adapt to it that exceeds our perceived ability to achieve it.
Studies on the so-called "good copers" clearly show that these people persistently believe that they will be able to cope with the stress: There are quite recurrent types of coping, which is why we talk about "styles" of coping. They are crucial in the success to achieve personal goals [ 24 - 27 ]. The most common coping styles can be summarized as follows:. This kind of person reveals a coping style aimed at direct confrontation [ 27 ]. Therefore, those who adopt this strategy have a so-called internal locus of control, they want to know as much as possible about their own condition, their source of stress and the context and actively change their lifestyle in order to preserve their health; this strategy can be defined as an active, positive coping, because it represents a tendency to actively confront and cope with stress and protects from anxiety.
The optimism that characterizes this style of coping has beneficial effects on the health, well-being, and the quality of life of those who adopt it. Recent research confirmed these assumptions [ 27 ]. The combative coping mediates these effects positively, while fatalism, anxious worries, and despair mediate these effects negatively. However, it is not enough to be optimistic, if you do not take a combative style of coping.
The combative style induces lower levels of anxiety and demoralization, empowers individuals in finding answers for discussion and gives them the feeling they are able to control events, at least partially: As a result, and as mentioned above, this style is associated with lower psychological morbidity and a greater sense of personal control [ 27 ]. However, if taken to the extreme and used as the only form of defense, it can cause problems. It has been divided into denial of adaptation and maladaptive avoidance; the first can be defined as a natural method of emotional self-protection, which has positive effects on health, so it was also called "healthy denial" by Druss in [ 28 ].
The maladaptive avoidance, instead, splits up into more extreme forms of denial that can lead to poor cooperation and cause strong anxiety when it is no longer effective as defense mechanism. A high level of avoidance, used as the only coping strategy, can also lead to an unrealistic perception of self-efficacy. People who adopt this strategy recognize the gravity of the situation and believe they have little control over events.
Therefore, they accept what fate ordained with resignation as if that was their destiny. Therefore, we must point out that the tendency to perceive external events as related to fate is typical of those who have an external locus of control, a place of external control, which causes poor adaptation to the stress.
It is negatively related to social and emotional functioning. Those who adopt this style of coping are continuously searching for reassurance, demand for visits, or otherwise escape from the context because it is too distressing. It is positively related to coping style despair [ 27 ]. In fact, there is a correspondence between despair and demoralization, which leads to affective symptoms of existential distress, cognitive tendency to pessimism, sense of personal failure, lack of motivation to deal with the event, feelings of social isolation and alienation [ 24 - 27 ].
It happens particularly to people working in the social sector and in the helping professions. In order not to get into a condition of stress, the worker has to perceive these three factors as balanced. With regard to the analysis of occupational stress the cognitive aspects are very highlighted, assuming that an event can have very different effects on each individual.
Only in certain circumstances can an experience of stress turn into a real illness. Since the autonomic nervous system and the neuroendocrine system mediate the body's response to stress, as a result of prolonged and repeated stress a normal physiological response can turn into a meaningful damage to health, especially affecting the cardiovascular, endocrine, gastrointestinal, and immune systems [ 4 ]. When the need to tackle stress is over, the chemical responses previously activated should terminate.
But when the physiological reaction to stress is not able to recover, the areas assigned to the production of adrenaline and cortisol continue their secretion, creating chronic stress, this in turn leads in particular to systemic alterations that in turn cause physical and psychological problems, such as behavioral and emotional symptoms like recurring irritability, poor concentration, decreased performance, tearfulness, changes in appetite, loss of self-esteem, sleep disorders, cardiovascular disorders, tendency to hyperglycemia, headache, and poor functioning of the immune system [ 4 ].
The high psychological and social costs that a person has to pay as a result of negative experiences stress at the workplace is becoming an increasing problem not only for the workers or the management, but also for organizations. For this reason, organizations are gearing up e. In the past, it was noted that the reduction in efficiency due to work stress probably has comparable effects to those caused by the strikes on the economic front [ 4 ].
Potentially stressful factors at work involve the relationship with work environment and work content material factors , the role people play in the organization organizational factors , and interpersonal relationships psychosocial factors. Referring to the role that a person plays in the organization we can talk about role-stress when there is a discrepancy between the actual role and the role to that the worker wishes to reach in the organization this phenomenon is called inconsistency of position.
Primary prevention , the purpose of which is to decrease the incidence of the arising of the negative phenomenon, it consists in an attempt to prevent the development of a discomfort in a population at risk. Secondary prevention , which tends to reduce the prevalence of morbidity through the curtailment of the period, the spread of the stress.
Tertiary prevention , which tends to mitigate the effects of negative factors on those affected. The timing of the intervention with the onset of pathological symptoms is, therefore, the discriminating factor between these three levels. The earlier the preventive intervention takes place, the more efficacy it has in preventing potential damages generated by work processes and environment.
Developing trainings aimed at improving stress management can help to reduce stress through greater mastery of the work process, strengthening self-esteem, and developing a higher sense of self-efficacy, but also improving motivation and mood. In the process of designing the work flow it is essential to take in to account not only ergonomic principles, but also the need to develop proper systems of performance evaluation, based on known criteria preferably shared , on a transparent communication and on constructive feedback from the management.
Such evaluation system will concretely reduce stress and increase the sense of control and involvement, facilitating the employees in the assignment of meaning to their activities and contribute to self-esteem [ 4 ]. It is estimated that a third of the European population suffers from mental disorders [ 29 ]. Psychiatric disorders are the prominent cost of disability-adjusted life years worldwide [ 30 ].
Anxiety is one of the most common psychiatric disorders affecting adults and young adults [ 29 , 31 - 36 ]. Anxiety disorders have the potential to cause serious interference with a person's daily life, work, and career [ 29 , 37 ]. It is also known that all pharmacological treatments with benzodiazepines can cause troublesome side effects, including anterograde memory impairment, sedation, and the risk of dependence; therefore, they are not recommended for long-term use [ 38 ].
These limits in terms of efficacy and tolerability often result in poor patient adherence to medication and, thus, long-term remission is often difficult to achieve [ 43 ]. On average, only a third of patients achieve remission within a year of follow-up, while patients who do achieve an initial response often relapse [ 44 ]. Can we, therefore, intervene before the appearance of a psychiatric disorder? Here stands the importance of primary prevention, which is finalized to prevent pathogenesis preserving the subject from the risk of taking pathogenic behaviors.
The literature has largely emphasized that improving "coping style" to stress, and all the problems related to it, may prevent and decrease anxiety and its consequences on working processes and on social functioning as a whole. In this perspective yoga can be a very effective and promising approach. Why should organizations promote yoga and not a generic physical activity for their employees? What is the difference between generic physical activity benefits and yoga benefits? The difference in benefits has been shown in a fairly recent study made by Bonura: Yoga has shown greater enhancement in psychological health than the simple physical exercise, substantiated by the decrease of anger, anxiety, and depression, and increased global wellness, positive overall effects, and feeling of an increase of self-efficacy.
Clance and coworkers concluded that yoga is an effective method to improve the image of the body and, consequently, the self-image [ 46 ]. We need to point out that yoga is a time-tested, ante litteram , biopsychosocial approach to life: Yoga techniques range from yoga postures asanas and purification techniques kriyas , more focused on body health, to breathing techniques, cognitive strategies, and meditation for clarity of mind and emotional balance pranayama, gyana, and dyana , to ethical codes of conduct aimed to establish harmony in the society yama and nyama.
The yoga approach to life is very reliable with the general system theory and to the work of Nicolis and Prigogyne [ 47 ] on dissipative systems: The imbalances of the system can be of two types: Often yoga is seen as an intangible and philosophical practice that is not suitable for the modern world of competitions and the fast pace that characterizes the work environment. But yoga can also provide cognitive tools to approach stressors in a healthy way.
Yoga can be helpful for the development of an effective strategy for reducing tension, through short and simple exercises that are easy to replicate autonomously.
In particular, for the constant attention paid to the body—mind relationship, yoga seems to be particularly influential on the activities related to the sympathetic system and, therefore, on the typical symptoms of anxiety: Yoga can also stabilize mental activity and enhance brain function and resilience to stress [ 52 - 54 ].
Yoga and breathing techniques can also favor a regular nasal breathing, with better lung expandability. Some yogic exercises of relaxation and cleansing of the nasal passages are also very effective in the prevention of sinusitis and rhinitis, and the resulting pharyngitis, laryngitis, and tracheitis [ 55 ]. Specific exercises can procure greater elasticity in the muscles needed for breathing, which is important because respiratory deficits are due in large part to the lack of movement secondary to a sedentary lifestyle.
Yoga breathing techniques can also prevent excessive tachycardia and hypertensive crises related to anxiety, because of their help in regularizing breathing. Finally, it is also known that stress and sleep disorders, such as insomnia and frequent interruption of sleep, can be fought with specific breathing techniques associated with sequences of dynamic yogic exercises [ 56 ]. Yoga can be also considered one of the strategies to cope with pathological conditions that have already taken place secondary prevention , like Generalized Anxiety Disorder.
# in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Exercise & Fitness > Yoga. # in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Exercise & Fitness > Martial Arts. Written by two gurus who work at the intersection of yoga, meditation, mind body. This book teaches the Martial Art that is hidden under everyday Yoga practice. Many yoga postures and exercises have direct application to self-defense on.
Today there is enough evidence to consider yoga to be a beneficial, low-risk, low-cost integration to the treatment of stress and anxiety [ 57 - 60 ].