Yoga Posture: The Benefits of Gate Pose for Patients

This is one of the few true side-bending poses in yoga. Unlike Triangle or Side Angle poses, Gate pose requires that we laterally flex the spine, simultaneously shortening one side and lengthening the other. This yoga posture improves strength and flexibility of the torso and may be beneficial for the lungs, kidneys and digestive organs.

Muscles Stretched: Adductors of the the extended leg. Obliques, intercostals, latissimus dorsi, quadratus lumborum (QL) and erector spinae (ES) on the kneeling side.

Muscles Strengthened: Obliques, transversus abdominis, erector spinae. Quadriceps, hip external rotators and gastrocsoleus of the extended leg.

Points of Body Awareness:

• Be sure that the thigh of the kneeling leg is vertical.
   
• Be sure that the pelvis is level, not hiking up on the extended side.
   
• The toes of the extended leg are traditionally pointed down, pressing into the floor but they may also be flexed up.
   
• Keep the knee cap of the extended leg (and the toes if flexed) pointing straight up, toward the ceiling.
   
• Allow the spine to side-bend toward the extended leg, but keep the shoulders in line with the hips and extended leg.
   
• Breathe into the side ribs. Feel the intercostal muscles between the ribs, stretch with your inhalation and release/relax with your exhalation.
   
• Hold for 5 to 10 Thoraco-Diaphragmatic (TATD) Breaths. Come back up to center with an inhalation.

To Modify:
Those with very tight adductors may not be able to kneel in this yoga posture without tilting the pelvis up on the extended side. This will likely cause too much compression in the lumbar spine and possibly stress the sacroiliac joints (SI). You can correct this by kneeling on a block or stack of books to effectively lengthen the femur bone.

Physical Therapy Notes:
I have recently used this yoga posture with many physical therapy patients. This posture can stretch tight erector spinae and QL muscles more safely and effectively than almost any other stretch. I have had patients with Herniated Nucleus Pulposus (HNPs), lumbar nerve root impingement and healed pelvic fractures do this pose with good success. In fact, many patients light up when they try this pose because it feels so good.

You can modify this pose with slight trunk flexion and/or forward rotation to get more stretch in the QL. Use caution with this modification for those with HNPs.

This yoga posture is contraindicated for anyone with acute knee/patella-femoral pain or swelling. It may also be contraindicated for those with large HNPs, or bilateral lumbar stenosis. The gate pose can be done unilaterally for those with unilateral nerve root impingement and for those with functional or structural scoliosis.

About the Author: Lisa B. Minn is a licensed physical therapist and yoga enthusiast. She has been incorporating aspects of Yoga her physical therapy practice since 2001 and became a certified yoga instructor in 2004. You can read more about the therapeutic applications of yoga on her blog, ThePragmaticYogi.com.

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