12th March is World Kidney Day and the message to one and all is-
“Kidney Health for Everyone Everywhere – from Prevention to Detection and Equitable Access to Care.” The 2020 campaign highlights the importance of preventive interventions to avert the onset and progression of kidney disease.
Following a healthy life style by including physical activity like practicing yoga, cycling, swimming and healthy diet, regular screening for Chronic Kidney Disease(CKD) risk with the aid of urine and blood tests and keeping screening data in a CKD registry can help to manage and prevent kidney disease.
Early Signs that something is wrong with your kidneys by WebMD.com:
- A change in how much you urinate
- Pee that is foamy, bloody, discolored, or brown
- Pain while you pee
- Swelling in your arms, wrists, legs, ankles, around your eyes, face, or abdomen
- Restless legs during sleep
- Joint or bone pain
- Pain in the mid-back where kidneys are located
- You’re tired all the time
3 Yoga Poses for Your Kidney Health
Standing Forward Bend (Uttanasana)
This asana stimulates the liver and kidneys.
- Stand in Tadasana, hands on hips. Exhale and bend forward from the hip joints, not from the waist. As you descend draw the front torso out of the groins and open the space between the pubis and top sternum. As in all the forward bends, the emphasis is on lengthening the front torso as you move more fully into the position.
- If possible, with your knees straight, bring your palms or fingertips to the floor slightly in front of or beside your feet, or bring your palms to the backs of your ankles. If this isn’t possible, cross your forearms and hold your elbows. Press the heels firmly into the floor and lift the sitting bones toward the ceiling. Turn the top thighs slightly inward.
- With each inhalation in the pose, lift and lengthen the front torso just slightly; with each exhalation release a little more fully into the forward bend. In this way the torso oscillates almost imperceptibly with the breath. Let your head hang from the root of the neck, which is deep in the upper back, between the shoulder blades.
- Uttanasana can be used as a resting position between the standing poses. Stay in the pose for 30 seconds to 1 minute. It can also be practiced as a pose.
- Don’t roll the spine to come up. Instead bring your hands back onto your hips and reaffirm the length of the front torso. Then press your tailbone down and into the pelvis and come up on an inhalation with a long front torso.
Bound Angle Pose (Baddha Konasana)
- Sit with your legs straight out in front of you, raising your pelvis on a blanket if your hips or groins are tight. Exhale, bend your knees, pull your heels toward your pelvis, then drop your knees out to the sides and press the soles of your feet together.
- Bring your heels as close to your pelvis as you comfortably can. With the first and second finger and thumb, grasp the big toe of each foot. Always keep the outer edges of the feet firmly on the floor. If it isn’t possible to hold the toes, clasp each hand around the same-side ankle or shin.
- Sit so that the pubis in front and the tailbone in back are equidistant from the floor. The perineum then will be approximately parallel to the floor and the pelvis in a neutral position. Firm the sacrum and shoulder blades against the back and lengthen the front torso through the top of the sternum.
- Never force your knees down. Instead release the heads of the thigh bones toward the floor. When this action leads, the knees follow.
- Stay in this pose anywhere from 1 to 5 minutes. Then inhale, lift your knees away from the floor, and extend the legs back to their original position.
Cobra Pose (Bhujangasana)
This asana stimulates the abdominal organs
- Lie prone on the floor. Stretch your legs back, tops of the feet on the floor. Spread your hands on the floor under your shoulders. Hug the elbows back into your body.
- Press the tops of the feet and thighs and the pubis firmly into the floor.
- On an inhalation, begin to straighten the arms to lift the chest off the floor, going only to the height at which you can maintain a connection through your pubis to your legs. Press the tailbone toward the pubis and lift the pubis toward the navel. Narrow the hip points. Firm but don’t harden the buttocks.
- Firm the shoulder blades against the back, puffing the side ribs forward. Lift through the top of the sternum but avoid pushing the front ribs forward, which only hardens the lower back. Distribute the backbend evenly throughout the entire spine.
- Hold the pose anywhere from 15 to 30 seconds, breathing easily. Release back to the floor with an exhalation.
In you are already suffering from kidney disease, opt for secondary preventive measures like, blood pressure optimization and glycemic control, which can be achieved by low salt and protein, as well as plant-based diets and pharmacotherapy.