yoga poses with stents

[SnailMum19]

wondering if anyone can help me. I had a couple of heart attacks mid March this year. As a result, 2 stents were fitted. Prior to this I was attending 1hr Vinyasa Yoga classes twice a week for 2 years. After an initial 6 week break when I returned home from hospital, I’ve been going to yoga once a week. However I’m getting conflicting advice about what poses I can & can’t do. For example, planks, forward folds & downward dog is apparently not allowed?

Does anyone know if this is correct? If so, can I start to include these poses after a certain length of time?

Any advise would be greatly appreciated!

[baly_2023]

Hi ,

I'm not a yoga person and hopefully someone who is will help.

However the plank ( which I used to do) is something I was told to avoid by my cardio rehabilitation nurse until they gave me the thumbs up.

She said it puts a lot of pressure on the cardiovascular system.

So I would ask you cardio rehabilitation team first.

[Sb1171]

I don’t think previous HA and stents themselves are are any cause for concern, it will depend on whether you have any residual issue (such as heart failure etc). As an example I had a HA and stent, but am not limited in any way with exercise (and there are many here lucky enough to be in that boat). There are probably three main ways that yoga might be an issue. 1) some poses will put you “heart low, body high” so the heart works harder to pump blood. 2) some poses are strenuous and make you work harder 3) some poses compress the chest making it more difficult for you to breathe easily. You will probably need to seek medical advice relating to your particular circumstances.

[STEMI_Dave]

Similar to you, I was and still am a keen Yoga class attendee. After my HA and stent 2 years ago, I too got all the standard advice about this or that.

My own approach was to take the recovery stages very seriously, particularly the 4 week Phase 3 cardio rehab classes and then the Phase 4 one-to-one semi-supervised 12-ish weeks with an an appropriately qualified personal trainer at the local gym.

As I was feeling fairly comfortable with my activity levels (fast walking, etc.) and recovery before and during Phase 3, I did a bit of yoga at home, taking it slowly to see how I felt, always using a fitness watch for heart rate. I started re-attending proper Yoga classes maybe a couple of months after the HA, gradually getting back to 2 or 3 classes a week.

While I did not stress too much over the 'formal' advice, I did note any slight twinges or minor discomfort. The BHF phone line was quite helpful in this regard, as the person I spoke to had a pragmatic approach to individual recovery. Such twinges were likely muscle recovery.

I have found Yoga over that period has provided a good focus both physically and mentally. I do 'listen to my body' (as you're supposed to anyway in Yoga) and adjust things as I go. If I feel a bit grotty or stodgy (med side-effects?), my Yoga class seems to improve things. I always feel better after. And that - I think - is the point!

I would feel really bad if I had been forced to forgo an important part of my routine. My own view (and YMMV), any downside risks of an activity are outweighed by the upside benefits. This is also the same argument I have heard used regarding med side-effects.

Or life in general.

Namaste!🧘‍♀️

[PecanSandie]

Can you switch over to a Hatha style yoga for a few months until you are ready to go back to the Vinyasa flow? You can do all the same poses but in a less strenuous format.