Ep 31: Injuries Associated w/ Basic Terms

 In this episode, let's jump back into those basic terms from Episode 29 and talk through the types of injuries that are specific to each of those terms. To jog your memory, we'll cover muscles, tendons, ligaments, fascia & connective tissue, a brief recap of proprioception (because there's an entire episode dedicated to it), and finally interoception. 

I will share three examples of injuries for each of the basic terms so that you get an understanding of how injuries affect us n different areas of our bodies. 

So if you want to go get your journal, go do it now. You'll have some great notes to refer back to!

Yoga for Injury Management: 8-week Mentorship
https://www.enhanced-body.com/yoga-for-injury-management

Transcript

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In this episode, I want to jump back into those basic terms from episode 29 and talk through the types of injuries that are specific to each of those terms to jog your memory. We'll cover muscle tendon. Ligaments fascia connective tissue. A brief recap of proprioception because there's an entire episode dedicated to that. And finally interoception. I'm gonna share three types of injuries for each. So if you want to go get your journal, go do it now. Welcome to the Essential Conversations for Yoga Teachers podcast with me. I'm Monica Bright, and I've been teaching yoga and running my yoga business for over a decade. This is the podcast for you if you're a yoga teacher, you're looking for support, you love to be in conversation, and you're a lifelong student. In this podcast, I'll share with you My life as a yoga teacher, the lessons I've learned, my process for building my business, and helpful ideas, tools, strategies, and systems I use and you can use so that your business thrives. We'll cover a diverse range of topics that will help you whether you're just starting out or you've got years under your belt and you want to dive deep and set yourself up for success. I'm so glad you're here. Listen, I don't take myself too seriously, so expect to hear some laughs along the way. Now, let's do this together. Welcome back to the podcast. All right. In episode 29. I walked you through some basic terms that relate to teaching movement and gave you some analogies to help you remember those terms in a different way. And episode 30, the last episode I focused on proprioception and injuries and how your appropriate reception is affected. When you experience an injury. It's pretty interesting. Go have a listen to that episode. It might be a little bit eyeopening because oftentimes we think of injury as only being physical, but those physical injuries also have an effect on your appropriate, receptive feedback loop. Now in this episode, I want to jump back into those basic terms from episode 29. And talk through the types of injuries that are specific to each of those terms. To jog your memory. We'll cover muscle. Tendon ligaments. Fatia connective tissue. A brief recap of proprioception because there's an entire episode, the last one dedicated to that. And finally, interoception, I'm going to share three types of injuries for each. So if you want to get your journal, now's the time to do it. All right, let's jump right in. Injuries related to muscles are the following. The first could be a muscle strain. Remember a strain is an injury to a muscle or tendon. And tendons are the fibers cords of tissue that connect your muscles to your bones. For example, a strained hamstring. We'll be caused by overstretching or tearing of the muscle fibers often due to sudden or excessive force. Uh, sometimes even overuse. The next is a muscle tear. And an example of that is a torn biceps muscle. Which is a more severe form of muscle strain where the muscle fibers are significantly torn. Now, this is different than Dom's or direct onset muscle soreness, which is a natural process where your muscles tear and rebuild to create stronger muscles. This muscle soreness lasts only a few days. And you feel it after a workout, whether you're becoming more active or you're progressing a little bit like lifting heavier weights or walking more than usual, or adding more repetitions into your workout. the last example of a muscle injury is myositis and polymyositis. So myositis is a general term that refers to inflammation of the muscles. It can be caused by a variety of conditions, including infections, auto-immune diseases and drug side effects. The inflammation can lead to muscle weakness, swelling, and pain. Now polymyositis is a specific type of chronic inflammatory myopathy, which is an auto immune condition characterized by a persistent muscle inflammation and weakness. It primarily affects the muscles closest to the trunk of your body, such as the shoulders, hips or the thighs. These two injuries come from an inflammation and degeneration of muscle tissue. And are often due to auto immune conditions. Okay. Those are injuries that occur in muscle tissue. The next category of injuries are tendon related injuries. And remember tendons connect your muscles to your bones, right? Okay. So the first is tendonitis and I, it is signifies an inflammatory process with the Cardinal signs of inflammation being present. Those being pain. Heat redness, swelling and loss of function. An example of that could be an Achilles tendonitis. It's the inflammation of a tendon. Often caused by repetitive motion or overuse. The next is tendon rupture. A ruptured Achilles tendon from a sudden jump or sprint could be an example. And it's a complete tearing of attending. Often requiring surgical repair. And finally tendinosis. An example of this would be degeneration of the tendons in the shoulder from chronic overuse. It's chronic degeneration of attendant without significant inflammation. Typically from repetitive stress. So I want to take a moment to dig a little deeper here and discuss the differences between tendonitis. Tendinosis and tendinopathy, Because they're all sound the same. They just have a different ending. All three involved issues with tendons, but they have distinct characteristics related to inflammation, degeneration, and whether the condition is chronic. So let's go through each tendonitis. Refers to the acute inflammation of a tendon, usually resulting from an injury or sudden overuse. It's characteristics are inflammation with the presence of inflammatory cells. The onset is acute often. Sudden. The pain is usually, or typically sharp and localized. And the duration is typically short term resolving with appropriate rest and treatment. Okay. Tendinosis specifically refers to the chronic degeneration of tendon tissue. Without significant inflammation. It's a form of tendinopathy and we'll get to that in a second. So tendinosis the. Characteristics are degenerative changes in the tendon tissue, such as collagen fiber disorganization and increased ground substance. The onset is gradual often due to repetitive stress over time, the pain is persistent. Achy and sometimes increases with use. And there's typically minimal to no inflammatory cells present. And then finally tendon apathy is a more general term that refers to chronic tendon conditions characterized by pain and dysfunction. Encompassing, both tendinitis. And tendinosis tend to not, apathy is like the umbrella in which tendonitis, and tendinosis sit under. The characteristics of tendinopathy are that it's chronic it's long-term tendon. Pain and dysfunction. It may include inflammatory and degenerative changes. The pain is dull, achy, and may worsen with activity. Here are some more key differences between the three. Alright, as specific to inflammation, here are the differences. In tendonitis, Inflammation is present. In tendinosis there's no significant inflammation. It's primarily degenerative. And in tendinopathy, it can include both inflammatory and degenerative changes. Differences with the onset and duration of each in tendonitis. It's acute onset. And it's duration is short term In tendinosis. The. Onset is gradual. And the duration is chronic And in tendinopathy, this is a chronic condition that is long-term. Pathological changes between the three. So in tendonitis, the changes are inflammatory cells in the tendon, in tendinosis it's degeneration of tendon tissue without inflammation. And in tendinopathy, it's a mixed pathology, including inflammation and degeneration. The treatment and focus differs between the three and tendonitis. The focus is on reducing inflammation and pain. And tendinosis. the treatment focuses on promoting tendon repair and remodeling and less focus on inflammation. And tendinopathy. It's a comprehensive approach, including strengthening and healing. Understanding these three. Distinctions is crucial for accurate diagnosis of effective treatment. As the management strategies differ. Based on whether the condition is primarily inflammatory tendonitis. Degenerative tendinosis or a combination of both tendinopathy. All right. Again, this is not so that you go and diagnose your students, but it helps you to be a smarter, more educated teacher because you know, what's going on in your students' bodies when they show up to your classes. All right, moving on to injuries in ligaments. Remember ligaments connect bones to bones. So one. Injury could be, a sprained ankle and a sprain is an injury to a ligament, the tough bands of fibrous tissue that connect bones to each other and stabilize joints. They occur when a ligament is stretched. Or torn. I do too sudden twisting, turning. Or trauma that forces the joint out of its normal range of motion. An example would be the tearing of the lateral ligaments of the ankle from an inversion injury. We typically think of that as rolling your ankle. And it involves stretching or tearing the ligaments around the ankle joint. The next ligament injury. Could be an ACL tear tearing of the anterior cruciate ligament or the ACL in the knee from a sudden change in direction. The ACL is a ligament inside your knee joint, which connects your upper leg bone, your femur. To your, one of your lower leg bones, the tibia, or we sometimes call it the shin bone. You could have a partial or a complete tearing of the ACL. And this often occurs during sports that involve planting your foot and pivoting like tennis, basketball. Sometimes even golf. And the last ligament injury. that I'll give you an example of is an MCL. Injury. And MCL or that medial collateral ligament sprain. Could be from a blow from the outer side of the knee, which pushes your knee inward. The MCL also connects your femur upper leg bone to the tibia, but it's on the medial side or the inner side of your knee joint. So stretching or tearing of the MCL is typically due to a direct impact to the side of the knee. There have been discussions on both sides, either saying once you stretch or elongate a ligament, it can never return to its original length. And on the other side. That by performing different therapies, you can return it to its original length. I don't know the answer to that question. And honestly, I truly believe that there is no concrete yes or no. The truth is that we're learning so much about the human body. That once we think we have it figured out. There's something new to learn and discover. So just keep that in the back of your mind. All right. Let's move on to injuries in the fascia and connective tissues. So one injury could be planner, fish ideas. I'm sure you've come across. Plenty of students who have come to you. That say that they have plantar fasciitis. It's an inflammation of the plantar fascia. In the foot from overused or poor footwear. This is inflammation of the thick band of connective tissue running along the bottom of the foot. The next injury example, is it band syndrome? It's inflammation of the Iliad tibial band from repetitive. Ne bending and runners. It could be a result from contracted glutes and TFL muscles that are pulling on the it band as well. It's inflammation and irritation of the it. Bam. Which is a thick strip of connective tissue running from. Your hip down to the outer knee. And sometimes you might feel pain on the outside. Of the knee, which worsens with more activity. Have you heard of. Dupuytren's contracture. It's a thickening and tightening of the fascia in the Palm of your hand, which leads to deformities in your fingers. It's a condition where the fascia in the Palm. Thickens causing the fingers to curl inward. So if you just imagine that in your mind that a student comes to your class, and their fingers naturally curl. And you put them in a position like plank or downward facing dog or anything where their hands are planted on the mat, even tabletop. You could understand how this hand positioning might be really on uncomfortable. If not unattainable for them. So just think about that. And how would you cue that student? How would you treat that student during class? How would you talk without making them feel singled out? It's just something to think about. All right. Those are common fascia and connective tissue injuries. That will be helpful for you to have a working knowledge of just in case of Susan shows up in your classes and in your mind, you know, How to proceed. Alright, proprioception. I just want to refer you back to episode 34 more in depth explanation of this. But I'll just say this for now. Remember that whenever the injury is in your body, it can affect your proprioception for that area of your body. So if you have a right knee injury, Even after it heals, you just might have a different feeling. I have that right knee than you do of your left knee. So whether it's an ankle sprain, a knee injury or a shoulder dislocation. You may begin to realize that you have a different awareness of that injured body part than you did before the injury. But remember you can do exercises to build up and regain the proprioception, the knowing and trusting your body parts place in space by performing mindfulness exercises. And then finally, interoception. Which is your seventh sense? It's the sense of the internal state of your body such as hunger thirst. Temperature. And visceral sensations. So in episode 29, I related interoception to the dashboard indicators in a car. Because dashboard indicators in a car give real time information about internal conditions, helping you understand what's happening. Inside the car, right? Interoception works. Similarly by providing feedback about your body's internal states, such as the feeling of hunger or thirsty and temperature. Uh, allowing you to respond. Appropriately. So, if we're talking about internal states in your body, The following are injuries that can be related to reduced. Interoception. Number one. Chronic pain syndrome, for example, fibromyalgia, which causes altered interoceptive signals and chronic pain. Fibromyalgia is a condition characterized by widespread pain and altered pain perception due to dysfunctional. Interoception. These symptoms could include chronic pain, lethargic, and heightened sensitivity to physical sensations. Number two. Irritable bowel syndrome. IBS leads to abnormal interoceptive signals from the gastrointestinal track. It's a gastrointestinal distorter. Involving altered sensations and pain perception in your digestive system. The symptoms include abdominal pain. Bloating and irregular bowel movements. And then finally a panic disorder or panic attacks, Which causes heightened interoceptive awareness of heart rate and breathing. This is a mental health condition where individuals have an exaggerated awareness of bodily sensations, which leads to panic attacks. And these symptoms could include rapid heart rate. Shortness of breath. Dizziness and intense fear. Whew. Okay. Did that seem like a lot? Did you take notes? Feel free to go back and listen to this episode again. And again, and just digest the information. Now again, I don't share these with you so that you go off diagnosing students instead it's so that you have a clear understanding of what your students are experiencing and dealing with in their bodies. This is so crucial, whether you're teaching from an anatomy lens or whether you love teaching yoga, nidra, or pranayama, understanding what students are feeling physically Drastically affects their practice. And I believe you should have a working knowledge of the goings on in people's bodies. All right. Go and integrate this information. let it sink in and think about how having this information we'll help you teach, observe and talk about movement with your students. If you can't tell already, this is one of the subjects that lights me up and I want all teachers of movement to understand how a working knowledge of the human body affects your teaching. I don't think we talk about the importance of anatomy enough. And injury's enough. And if this conversation feels uncomfortable, don't worry about that. That's exactly where change happens. So pick up an anatomy book, watch a video series, follow a council on social media that will teach you, but just keep taking the steps to be a little bit more informed. I hope that this episode sparks some deeper thought around why the knowledge of anatomy and injuries is so important as a movement educator. I've added a link in the show notes for you to send me a quick text message about your thoughts on this episode or any other. I won't know your phone number. It's just an addition to the platform that I use that allows for this new and super easy way for you to communicate with me. Once you click on it, it will take you to your messages. Don't delete the code. That's how your message will get to me. And I would love to know your thoughts on this topic. I love diving into these conversations because there are so many important discussions to be had in the teaching world. You know that my goal is for you to love the yoga teaching life and allow it to be fulfilling and rewarding. And sometimes it takes work. And a few conversations to get there. If you love this episode, let me know. Subscribe to the podcast. So you're always in the know when the new episode drops and share it with another yoga teacher who you think would love to be in on these conversations. Thank you for helping to spread the word about this podcast. If you've been taking notes in your journal, as he listened to these episodes, I'm so glad and I'd love to hear about it. Finally, don't forget to join my newsletter. That's just for yoga teachers. I've got some exciting teachings coming soon. So I want to tell you all about them. The link is in the show notes below, and I would love you to join it so we can always stay connected. All right. That's it for now. Bye. Mhm.