Torsions, anatomy of change

Of all the movements suggested by the yoga, the Rotation / torsion is one of the most distinctive. Almost entirely absent in sports (except when needed to give the required thrust force to a tool, as in golf, tennis and the launch of the disc), yoga is present in many asanas. 

Change orientation 

In daily life, we carry out this movement essentially when we turn to look at something outside our field of vision, for example by reversing car. Symbolically, it is the expression of a change of orientation, a "turn" towards something or someone that was previously not visible. Literally a rotation is the movement of a body that revolves around the axis passing through the center of gravity, torsion is a deformation of a solid body around an axis, in which the fibers initially parallel become helical. In many asanas find both of these aspects. Restricting ourselves to the spine, we rotate in the movement of each vertebra with respect to those adjacent, and twist all the structures and muscle legamentarie concerned. It is called just the torso part of the trunk from the waist to the neck, where the movement takes place. 

As a cloth wrung 

To better understand the usefulness and effects of positions of rotation / twisting, we can analyze what happens in the spine. From an analytical point of view, the movement of a vertebra over the other is a rotation around an axis. If we look like is an intervertebral disc (the structure that connects each vertebra to the next) we can observe that around the fleshy core, the central jelly, we have a succession of concentric layers fibrosis. In case of rotation, given the low elasticity of the fibers, there is a slight compression of the disk (towards the vertebrae), resulting in decompression time to return to starting position. The movement is similar to that which makes twisting a cloth to wring out the two ends tend to get closer. The spinal disc is not vascularised, it feeds on Imbibition (absorption) as a sponge that is soaked in liquid and nutrients when it expands and expels liquids and substances to be eliminated when it is compressed. A mobilization may therefore be very welcome, provided that it took place without excessive and subject to the natural mobility of the articulation. 

Internal action 

One can also envisage a similar action on the viscera, principally those in the abdominal cavity in cases of torsion of the trunk, the internal pressure increases (the lap-life is reduced). It is no coincidence the texts of traditional Hatha Yoga talk of action on the "stomach fire" in the description of some classical positions of torsion as Marichyasana and especially Matsyendrasana. In these two examples, the visceral action of compression pressure is intensified by the thigh exercises relying on the abdominal wall. The spine in a position of rotation is very particular: it looks like a spiral staircase very elongated. 

We can easily realize passing the tip of a finger along the spine of a person who realizes the position. This produces a liberation of the ribs on the side opposite to the rotation (what is brought forward in a sitting twist) and a partial elastic deformation of the diaphragm, certainly of interest to a respiratory rehabilitation. From the above we can draw three important lessons to do the twist: 

1. Keep all the time for action autoallungamento spine: so avoid excessive compression of the intervertebral disks and thus reduce the deformation scoliotica column. 

2nd Keep straight axis of rotation (the top of the skull in line with the perineum). 

3rd Pay particular attention to the breath. 


Free to choose 

Crystallize in the body, in the form of rigidity, resistance or blocks, the experiences, especially those with strong emotional impact, producing and constraints faced by progressively restricting the freedom of movement, physical but also psychological. The lack of rotation corresponds to a loss of freedom of decision, an imprisonment in conditions and habits of the past. We can, therefore, the positions of rotation / twist in the mood to give back the freedom necessary to our spine and, above all, to reappropriate our "free will"