Yoga & Drug Induced Joint Pain
Joint pain caused by cancer treatment is more common than people may realise. Typically this comes from hormone therapy which are used as follow up treatment for hormone sensitive cancers.
What I see most often are women who are put on oestrogen suppressors or blockers such as arimadex and letrizole which put them into medical menopause and with much more intense symptoms such as joint pain. Even women who are years into their post menopause life can experience muscle and joint pain on these medications.
The pain is most commonly felt in the hands and feet, but can also happen in the knees, hips, lower back and shoulders. Some women they may have it all the time or it may come and go. Often students tell me that their joints are stiffer in the morning, when they first wake up.
The severity can vary and for some it is more than some annoying aches. Some women find it affects their sleep as they cannot get comfortable. Others are unable to do their normal day to day activities. One lady told me that when she woke in the morning she had to crawl on hands and knees to the bathroom as it was to painful to stand.
These medications though are aimed at preventing recurrence and so being able to tolerate them can make a difference to their chances of long term health.
Is it safe to move through pain?
This is a common and important question as a yoga teacher. The important thing is to have a full picture of your students health history because there can be other reasons for joint pain. Just because someone has cancer doesn't mean that they don't have anything else!
For example, if the pain is from osteoarthritis and loss of cartilage, then moving through that pain is not going to be helpful.
However, if the pain is new and from the hormone drugs then movement is the remedy. The main way to tell is if pain is sharpest on the first movement after being one position for a while and then eases off with more activity. As a women in peri-menopause now, this definitely applies - if I sit for more then a few minutes, when I first stand it can be really sore but then eases as I walk around.
What Practises Help?
Slow mindful circular fluid movements are what people find most helpful at the beginning to ease out the stiffness and achiness. It is important to gently move and lubricate all the joints before going into bigger movements and deeper stretches.
Personally I love teaching parts of the pawanmutanasana series - these are known both as joint-freeing and energy-freeing exercises. They have the benefit of 'oiling' the joints but of also working at the pranic level of the body to increase energy which makes them useful for people with cancer related fatigue too.
For hands all kinds of mudra practises are useful as is some self massage. I also like to squeeze hands into a fist and stretch out fingers with the breath. If this is done with arms raised than it has the extra benefit of assisting lymph flow back towards the trunk of the body.
I would also like to mention a great suggestion that came up in our recent coaching call of squeezing clothes pegs to increase movement and strength in the fingers and thumbs.
Want to learn more?
If you would like to learn more about supporting women with medical menopause I have included specialist module on just that in the 12 week YFCA Holistic Teacher Training Course.