Ep 33: Injuries Associated w/ More Basic Anatomy Terms! Pt 1

In this episode I'm going to jump back into the Additional Basic Anatomy Terms You Should Know from Episode 32 and walk you through the types of injuries that are specific to each of those terms. As a quick reminder, we'll cover bones, bony landmarks, retinaculum, arteries & veins, bursa, lymph nodes and nerves.

I'm going to explain more of what types of injuries and / or conditions that can occur in each of these terms, so if you want to get your journal, get it now!!

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

Transcript

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This episode is dedicated to more understanding of injuries. I'm going to jump back into the additional basic anatomy terms you should know from episode 32. And walk you through the types of injuries that are specific to each of those terms. A quick reminder, we'll cover bones, bony landmarks or protrusions retina macula. Awesome. Arteries versus veins. Bursa. Lymph nodes and nerves. I'm going to explain more of what types of injuries and or conditions that can occur in each of the terms I mentioned before. So. If you want to get your journal. Go do it. 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. I am so glad to be back, but I'm not going to lie. I so enjoyed my time in the UK and Portugal. Portugal is a dream. And visiting has set my mind in motion to figure out how I can get back. That's the thing about traveling and new experiences. They have the potential to level you up, you know, My daughter was in university in the UK, and I found my birth family also living in London. So just because she's graduated, uni does not mean I won't be returning to visit them or in the future. I'm also working on that. Life is good. It's so good right now. And I am loving and leaning. Into it so much. And that also makes it so much sweeter. All right. In episode 32, I walked you through some more basic anatomy terms that you should know that relate to teaching movement and gave you some analogies to help you remember those terms differently. This episode is dedicated to more understanding injuries. So I'm going to jump back into the additional basic terms from episode 32. And walk you through the types of injuries that are specific to each of those terms. So to jog your memory, we'll cover bones, bony landmarks, or bony protrusions retina. ELAM arteries versus veins. Bursa lymph nodes and nerves. I'm going to explain more on what types of injuries and or conditions. That occur in each of the terms I mentioned before. So if you want to go get your journal. Pause and go get it So let's begin with bones. I'm sure right off the bat bone breaks come to mind, but let's get a little deeper than that. So the first is a fracture. In medical terminology, the terms broken bone and fractured bone are often used. Interchangeably, but there are nuances in how they're perceived and described. The term broken bone is a common non-medical way to describe a bone that has been cracked splintered or completely broken apart. It's a lay person's term that encompasses all types. I have bone injuries and it can imply a more severe or complete break. But medically, it doesn't specifically indicate the extent or type of the injury. On the other hand, a fracture refers to any kind of break in the continuity of a bone. This can range from a tiny crack to a complete separation of the bone into multiple pieces. There are different types of fractures from a simple. Or closed fracture. Where the bone is broken, but the skin remains intact. Versus a compound or open fracture where the bone breaks through the skin, which can lead to an increase in the risk of infection. Then there is a hairline or a stress fracture. And these are small cracks in the bone often caused by repetitive stress. Or overuse. Have you ever heard of a green stick fracture? This is an incomplete fracture where the bone bins and cracks, and it's common in children. Or what about a commuted fracture here? The bone is shattered into multiple pieces, and finally there are transfers OB. Oblique and spiral fractures and these terms, describe the direction. And nature of the fracture line across the bone. The term fracture is the preferred medical term, as it precisely describes the type and nature of the bone injury, whereas broken bone is more commonly used in everyday language and does not specify the nature of the break. So well, broken bone and fractured bone are often used interchangeably by the general public medical professionals prefer the term fracture. To describe the various types of bone injuries. More precisely. Uh, fractured doesn't always occur because of a break in a bone. That's important to note. Osteoporosis related fractures are bone fractures that occur due to the weakened state of bones caused by osteoporosis, a condition characterized by decreased bone density And. quality. This reduction in bone mass and deterioration of bone tissue leads to fragile bones that are more prone to fractures, even with minimal trauma or stress. So how do osteoporosis related fractures happen? They occur because of loss in bone density in osteoporosis, the balance between bone resorption. And bone formation. Is disrupted, leading to more bone being broken down. Then it's being formed and that results in bones becoming porous and brittle. The most common sites for osteoporosis related fractures are in your spine. Hip. And wrist. A stress fracture is a small crack or severe bruising within a bone. It occurs due to repetitive force or overuse often from activities like running, jumping, or dancing, as opposed to a single traumatic event. Unlike acute fractures caused by a specific injury. Stress fractures develop gradually over time. So how does stress fractures happen? They happen in a few ways in repetitive stress cases, they occur when muscles become fatigued and are unable to absorb additional shock. The overload of stress is then transferred to the bone leading to tiny cracks or in overuse cases, they are commonly seen in athletes, Especially runners are dancers and are due to repetitive high impact. Activities. Your bone density and your nutrition also plays apart factors like low bone density, osteopenia or osteoporosis,Poor nutrition and hormonal imbalances can increase your chances of sustaining a stress. Fracture. The common locations for stress fractures include your lower leg, the tibia and fibia. Those are the two bones in your lower leg underneath your knee joint. You're a foot in the metatarsal is especially in your second and third metatarsal. Your hip. The for moral neck. So you have your femur bone, right? And in order for your femur bone to connect to your hip socket, there is a Memorial neck and at the end of their neck is sort of like a ball shaped, bone. It's all one bone, right. But they have these different shape through, out this area of the bone, the top area of the bone, which helps to connect the femur to the acetabulum or your hip socket. So that neck part, um, is thinner. Uh, size bone. And stress fractures can, arise there. And then finally in Europe, pelvis, so, what are the effects on the human body? What are the felt experiences? The most common symptom. I have a stress fracture is pain. Which typically worsens with weight-bearing activities and diminishes with wrist. Initially the pain might be mild and occur only during activity, but it can become constant over time. Pain is so multifactorial though. I could do an entire episode and just scratch the surface. I have pain and pain science. So, um, maybe I'll consider that going forward, but I just want you to remember there, there are so many factors that, lead to pain or you feeling like you're in pain. You might also experience swelling. Tenderness and localized discomfort. The physical effects can include structural weakening and decreased functionality and If complications occur and a stress fracture progresses to a complete fracture, then more invasive treatments like surgery might be required. Persistent stress fractures can lead to chronic pain and may predispose individuals to recurrent injuries. If underlying factors Such as improper training techniques or poor bone health aren't addressed. Okay, moving on to injuries and conditions that are associated with your bony landmarks or protrusions. And these are areas in your bony body or your skeleton that protrude out, you can palpate them, actually touch them with your fingers. So the first is heals spurs, heel spurs are bony girls that develop on the underside of your heel bone or the cow kamias. They are often associated with plantar fasciitis. Uh, condition characterized by inflammation of the plantar fascia. A thick band of tissue that runs across the bottom of your foot and connects the heel bone to your toes. But how to heal spurs develop. Heel spurs develop over time due to repetitive stress and strain on your foot. Leading to the accumulation of calcium deposits on the underside of the heel bone. This process generally occurs over several months and is often associated with the following factors. One, like I said, repetitive stress activities that place a lot of stress on the heal. And attached tissues such as running, jumping, or prolonged standing. Can lead to the development of heel spurs. And then there's plantar fasciitis, a chronic inflammation of the plantar fascia, which can lead to heel spurs as your body responds by depositing calcium at the site of the stress. Well, not all cases of plantar fasciitis result in heel spurs. The two conditions often occur together. Then there's your foot structure. Abnormalities in foot mechanics, such as high arches or flat feet. Could contribute to the development of heel spurs by altering the distribution of stress across your foot. Obesity excess body weight increases the pressure on the heel bone and surrounding structures contributing to the development of heel spurs. Aging As we age, the protective fat pad on your heel becomes thinner. Making the heel bone, more susceptible to damage and the formation of spurs. And then finally improper footwear. So wearing shoes that lack proper art support or cushioning can contribute. To the formation of heel spurs by failing to adequately support your foot's natural arch. Personally, I switched between a lot of barefoot walking, barefoot shoes and really supportive and cushion shoes. The first time I travel to the UK. I took my barefoot shoes and my feet. Hurt. I mean, it was a hurt that I had not felt before in my life. But I realize when I'm walking around Europe, I need more supportive shoes than I would here in the states. Probably because I do. a lot of driving to where I'm going and then walking from there, but, you know, I'm very cognizant of the types of shoes that I need to be wearing in certain situations. All right. The next is greater trow, cantering pain, Centrum. Greater trocanter neck pain syndrome. is a condition characterized by pain and tenderness in the lateral or outer aspect of the hip. The pain originates from the structures around the greater trocanter, which is a bony prominence. On the femur or your thigh bone, where several important tendons and muscles attach, including the gluteus medius and gluteus minimus. So you can kind of palpate the greater trocanter. If you. Stand and shift your hips all the way over to one side and just feel, the outside of your hip. And run your fingers over. the outside of your hip, you might feel a little bit of bony prominence, and that is the greater TRO canter. So how does greater trocanter pain syndrome develop? Okay. First, the term syndrome does not necessarily mean a specific diagnosis per se. It describes a condition or gives name to something abnormal that's happening in the body. But has not necessarily gotten a diagnosis. Greater truck, tantric pain syndrome develops due to various factors that lead to inflammation or irritation of the tendons, muscles or bursa. Around the greater trocanter The bursa is a fluid-filled SAC that reduces friction and I'll dive deeper into bursa related injuries and conditions in a bit. But here are the primary factors that lead to greater trocanter Erick pain syndrome. The first is tendon pathologies, including tendonitis inflammation of the tendons attached to the greater trocanter, especially the glute Mead and. The glute min, which can lead to pain. Overuse repetitive movements or sudden increases in physical activity can cause micro tears and inflammation. And then there's tendinopathy. Or chronic degeneration of the tendons without significant inflammation. And this can result from repetitive strain or mechanical overload. Next is bursitis trow, cantering, bursitis inflammation of the bursa around the greater trocanter is a common cause of pain. And this inflammation can result from trauma. Prolonged pressure or repetitive movements that irritate the bursa. This. Fluid field sack. Later, when I get into bursa related injuries, I'll give you a couple more examples because you have bursa sacks all over your body. The next is muscle imbalance and weakness. So weakness in the hip abductors. AB ductors particularly the gluteus medius and gluteus minimus can lead to improper load distribution across your hip. Causing stress on the tendons and your bursa. Then there's biomechanical factors. So your gait abnormalities Changes in your walking patterns due to leg length, discrepancies, improper footwear. And I use that term improper lightly. Because it can mean so much from footwear that restricts movement to footwear that is an improper fit for your feet. but other orthopedic issues can contribute to GTPS by altering the mechanics of your hip joint. So that's one just take into consideration. Overuse and repetitive stress activities such as running. We're talking about running a lot cycling or prolonged standing can put repetitive stress on your hip, which can, could lead to GTPS and then there's trauma. So direct trauma to the lateral hip, such as a fall or a bump, which leads to inflammation and pain. All right. Next is injuries occurring in the retina NACA. Alum. Remember retina baculum is a fibrous band of connective tissue that holds tendons in place. Keeping the tendons from Bose stringing during joint movement. There's several retina. Occula in the body commonly found around your wrist. Your ankle and knee joints, they play a crucial role. In stabilizing tendons and supporting the function of your joints. Injuries to the retina baculum can occur in various parts of the body and can result from trauma. Overuse. Or degeneration the most commonly affected retina macula include. Wrist retina baculum flexor and extensor. Retinaculum ankle retina macula. Superior and inferior extensor retina macula. And neat written Some medial and lateral patellar retina macula. How do these injuries develop? from traumatic injuries, like direct trauma, a blow or a fall can cause tears or sprains in the retina curriculum. For example, a direct impact on the wrist or ankle can stretch or tear the retina baculum fibers. But this would have to be severe though, because remember your body is not fragile. Or dislocations in cases like patella dislocations. The associated retina. Um, either medial or lateral can be overstretched or torn. Then there's overuse injuries, repetitive motion activities that involve repetitive movement such as typing. Uh, playing sports or manual labor can lead to chronic stress on the retina. Baculum over time. This can cause micro tears, inflammation, or degenerative changes. And tendonitis. The inflammation of the tendons held by the retina baculum can lead to irritation and subsequent injury to the retina act limit. So. And finally degenerative conditions. Aging and wear and tear degenerative changes due to aging can weaken the retina curriculum, making it more susceptible to injuries, even with minimal trauma. And then there's chronic conditions, conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, which can cause inflammation and damage to the retina baculum and surrounding structures. Some examples include carpal tunnel syndrome. And ankle sprain or trigger finger. All right, moving on to injuries and conditions in your arteries and veins. First arteries, peripheral artery disease, or PA D is a narrowing of the arteries in the legs due to a thorough sclerosis, which causes reduced blood flow to the limbs due to plaque buildup in the arteries. Then there's aneurisms. Which are a bold in the abdominal aorta and they are a localized enlargement of an artery caused by a weakening of the artery wall. And then there's a stroke, which is a blockage in the carotid artery that reduces blood flow to your brain. It's an interruption of blood supply to part of the brain. Leading to brain cell death. All right, let's talk about veins. Deep vein thrombosis or DVT is a blood clot in the deep veins of your leg. You have to be cognizant of these on long haul flights, rather than sitting the entire flight. It's recommended to get up and walk around. At least every. Two hours. Then there are varicose veins or enlarge twisted veins, often visible under the skin of your legs. These veins become enlarged and kind of gnarly due to valve failure, leading to blood pooling. And finally flip fetus is an inflammation of a superficial vein often in the leg and is usually caused by a blood clot. Or infection. So you may know that I have. Two daughters. two beautiful young women, but before them, my first child was another girl and her name was Sydney who is no longer living. She passed away at 17 months. And I have made a very intentional point to make sure that my daughter is Olivia and Charlotte know about their sister Because she passed away before they were born. So unfortunately they never had a physical relationship with her, but I talk about her a lot. And they asked me a lot of questions about her as well. but Sydney was born with an H V M N arterial venous malformation in her brain, which means. She had a vein and an artery that were connected and they're not supposed to be.. She didn't have any physical limitations from it, but she went through multiple surgeries. To try to block this connection. In two surgeries, they use metal coils to attempt to block the blood flow. In. Another surgery. They used glue, like, honestly it was like super glue. To try to block the blood flow and it was in that surgery. Where there were complications and she began to bleed and they were unable to stop the bleeding and she passed away. Someone could have an AVM and not even know it. They could live a whole life and not know it, it doesn't always present. With symptoms. But when I look back on my life and remember how Sydney passed away and how my mother passed away, she passed after complications from a fractured femur. I think those experiences made me curious about the human body and injuries, and I wanted to understand as much as possible. About what was happening. So I wanted to share that example of an AVM, uh, this malformation with arteries and veins. in your body just to, share it because I have a personal relationship with that. Uh, condition. and again, it's not something that if you had it, you would ever know, unless you went to get, tests, specific tests done. and some people who have AVMs don't even go through surgeries to try to block the connection, but the risk is. that you could, at some point in your life, um, have a stroke. Because of the connection. Oh, okay. So this seems like a lot, right? So I'm going to pause here and let you absorb all of this information. I think what I'm going to do is make a part two and we'll go into injuries and conditions in your bursa. Your lymph nodes and your nerves. Okay. I think this is a good pausing point. What I think is super important to say is that I'm not teaching you all about these injuries and conditions so that you can go out and diagnose your students. It's not that at all. And I don't diagnose students either. My first question to a student who presents with an injury or condition is. Have you been to a doctor or have you been diagnosed then? I lean into a conversation with them because it informs me about what I'm planning on teaching. What their capabilities are. And if I need to take anything into consideration, I don't think it's responsible to teach movement and not study movement or anatomy and injuries. That's not to say that you have to be an expert or a doctor or a physical therapist. Instead, it means that you have at least a basic knowledge of what your students can and cannot do. I'm going to leave you with this. story. Years ago I was teaching a deep stretch class in person and the entire class that I sequenced was prone lying on the front of your body. And we were going to be doing movements that included stretch, strength, mobility, and relaxation. And I was ready to teach what I had planned and a woman who was eight months pregnant, walked in. You can imagine my thoughts as I watched her come in and find a spot in the room to place her mat. And while pregnancy is an injury. It definitely can affect your plan for teaching, right. So I was thinking I cannot teach the class that I planned because what am I going to tell her, do what you can, that that's not sufficient. There's nothing. In the sequence that would have been appropriate for her. So I share this to say, Sometimes you have to be willing to be able to pivot. And when you learn about injuries and conditions, you can pivot from an educated place. A quick second example. I was teaching a class. Kind of like a deep stretch class, but a little bit different. And a student walked in with severely internally, rotated hips, and she came over and we talked before class. She explained her condition. So she said, don't worry about me. I will do what I can. I know what my body is capable of. So I I'm good. I just wanted to explain what was going on with my body. Um, but I could see it, you know, as soon as she walked into the class. So in that class, I didn't necessarily change up my sequencing. What I did though, was I changed up my queuing. And my queuing. I like to queue in ways where I have the students really feel into their bodies. So it's less about can you do this external rotation? Right. And instead of that, It was more of, what does it feel like when you turn your knee out? All right. And so from her. Um, ability to move at her hips. Her knee was not necessarily going to turn out that much. So of her knee was turned in because she had internally rotated hips. The turnout for her knee. Might just be that her knee turns straightforward. Right. If you could just envision that. Um, in your head and not a turnout, but just, uh, turn straightforward. And so for her, I didn't want her to think about the knee, turning out towards, say the right side of the room. I just wanted her to focus on the feeling. In her hip joint. So if you cannot already tell, 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 if this conversation feels uncomfortable or maybe it feels overwhelming, don't worry. This is exactly where you need to be. And it's right where change happens. You could start by picking up an anatomy book, watch a video series. Look at people's bodies. Follow a council on social media that will teach you. Just keep taking the steps. To be more informed. I hope that this episode sparked some deeper thought around why the knowledge of anatomy in 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. And I've enjoyed reading the messages I've gotten so far. I won't know your phone number. It's just a cool 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 is going to 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 a 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 a 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. And if you've been taking notes and your journal, as you listened to these episodes, I'm so glad you are, 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'll want to tell you all about them. The link is in the show notes below, and I would love for you to join it so we can always stay connected. All right. That's it for now. Bye. Mhm.