Adaptive yoga is helping people of all abilities

Posted by Admin September 23, 2024 Fitness

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GREENVILLE, S.C. (FOX Carolina) – In a studio that overlooks the Swamp Rabbit Trail near downtown Greenville is a class that encourages all. It’s called adaptive yoga

“It really helps with my spasticity, my shoulders, and my legs,” Hunter Lawrence said.

Hunter says he had no idea he would be able to do yoga after his accident. A drunk driver hit him in 2020, leaving him paralyzed from the chest down.

“It broke several ribs,” Lawrence said. “It broke my sternum, lacerated my spleen, and collapsed my left lung.”

To stay healthy he needs to continue moving his lower body, otherwise, he can end up with a serious blood clot.

“It can turn into a pulmonary embolism and travel to your lungs and heart,” Lawrence said.

Adaptive yoga is keeping that blood flowing. Amanda Maddrey is a yoga instructor at the Prisma Health Roger C. Peace Adaptive Sports and Wellness Center.

“Yoga allows you to practice mindfulness, breathwork, or moving your body,” Maddrey said. “That is an important practice for everyone to have.”

Maddrey and others who work at the Wellness Center are also trained as an occupational therapists so they know how to handle people with mobility challenges.

“You can expect the class to be modified to fit your needs,” Maddrey said. “If you have back pain, if you have a spinal cord injury, if you have an amputation, or if you have arthritis, this is yoga for anyone and everyone.”

You can be sitting in a chair, lying on the ground, or using a mobility aid. Hunter says in the year that he has taken up yoga he’s noticed big changes.

“I have learned a lot of new stretches that I was not taught in physical therapy so I can adapt to do yoga in the wheelchair,” Lawrence said. “It’s worth a try.”

Lawrence says the breathing exercises they do in yoga also help with his anxiety and trauma from the car accident.

Prisma Health is offering free adaptive yoga classes.