（instagram：Rebecca Leigh）
這位老師起初，沒有想到瑜伽的倒立動作居然讓他中風(這個高難度的倒立動作是頭離地+後彎)，
他對於發生這樣的情形是感到憤怒的。
其實不是只有他如此，在我觀察的練習者不管是老師還是學生，有些人為了追
求一些高難度體位法而忽略身體本身的現況，沒有觀察自己的狀態是否適合練習?
例如：在多年前有位學生控訴他的瑜珈老師，因為在練習瑜珈的坐姿前彎，
老師幫他調整動作，導致他椎間盤突出，老師的一”背”之力有這麼神奇？
還是學生本身就有問題？
在這裡我要表達的是自己的身體狀態自己最清楚，練習時如有不適要立即停止，
但最怕的是當下引爆點的爆發是來自於累積了一段不適合自己的練習後，
新聞中這位老師也許頸椎本身就有問題，我們不得而知，頸椎有問題、
增加顱內壓(腦腫瘤、動脈硬化、美尼爾症、綠內障)、高血壓、
心臟病患、脊柱創傷未癒等問題不適合練習倒立的。
另外有關於老師一臂之力的調整，老師和學生的”眼觀”、”耳關”是非常重要的，
有些學生會很期待老師幫忙調整，但老師出手的調整是要有技巧的，
例如：力道的使用、調整中的學生是否用到其他肌肉代償？有發現學生本身的身體狀況嗎？
回歸新聞中這位老師，他復原的很快，回到墊子的練習是採用適合自己”安全”的
體位法和”呼吸”練習，這裡要表達的是瑜伽的長期練習的底子讓他很快恢復健康
(大家都知道中風後要復原是要花很長的時間)，
不要被聳動的標題嚇到，不管從事什麼運動，”正確“、”安全“的練習是首要宗旨，
尊重自己的身體，循序漸進，不躁進。
資料來源：topick.hket.com
做瑜伽也會中風！美國一名瑜伽導師做高難度倒立動作時，頸椎受傷引發中風，出現記憶力嚴重衰退，
說話不能超過幾分鐘，手臂失去知覺等情況，而且每天也感到頭痛。現時她頸部動脈已完全癒合
，經此一役，她選擇簡單、安全的伸展動作，並希望告訴大眾瑜伽動作也會引發中風的可能。
綜合外媒報導，美國40歲瑜伽導師Rebecca Leigh在社交媒體擁有2.6萬名粉絲。2017年，
她在受傷前數小時，為粉絲拍攝了一段教學影片。在做一個高難度倒立動作「hollowback handstand」
時，令頸部右邊的動脈撕裂。這個姿勢需用手肘支撐身體，倒立時背部挺直。期間，
她視力突然出現變化：視野消失了，視力開始變得模糊。
當她坐下來整理頭髮時，卻發現左臂失去知覺。起初她以為是舊病復發，後來手臂持續麻木，
並開始頭痛，兩天後更發現瞳孔大小不一，眼皮下垂，她才知道事態嚴重，坦言很可怕。
她立即往急診室求醫，進行核磁共振掃描後，證實中風。
她認為自己身體健康，也不相信這年紀的人會中風。完成各項檢查後，發現是在做倒立動作時，
令右頸動脈撕裂，這也是為大腦供血的主要動脈之一。她感到難以置信：瑜伽這種健康運動也
會引發中風，也難以接受事情發生在自己身上。
1個月後，她重新練習瑜伽，每天練習一小時。不過，現時她仍因為神經損傷，不能說話超過
幾分鐘，而且每天頭痛，記憶力嚴重下降。但中風後6個月，她的頸動脈已完全癒合。
她表示中風後一年，健康狀況已回復75％。現時她想告訴大眾，
瑜伽的動作有機會引發中風。
為何頸椎受傷會引發中風？
蘇格蘭曾有女子在髮型屋洗髮後，頸部沒有足夠保護，以致中風。
TOPick早前訪問養和醫院腦神經科專科醫生吳炳榮，了解成因。吳醫生表示，
頸部如果拉扯過度，持續時間過長，就會傷及血管。
他解釋，後腦血管有左右兩個分支，血管經過頸椎骨旁邊穿過，然後連結後腦。
如果頸椎活動過度，就會傷及椎動脈血管（vertebral artery），該血管於第2節第7條
頸椎骨之間的小孔連接腦部。所以頸椎骨突然扭傷，或後仰過度，令椎動脈血管內壁受傷、
撕裂，血塊凝固在血管裡面，就會阻塞血液供應。
吳醫生表示，曾有病人去做扭頸的按摩，嚴重扭傷，令椎動脈血管撕裂。他指出
，曾有病人做泰式按摩「扭頸」等動作時，弄傷椎動脈血管，引發「美容院中風症候群」；
也有病人踢足球時「頂頭鎚」，令該血管撕裂閉塞，引致腦部中風。另外，
裝修工人也是易受傷的一群，當他們攀上梯級，持續向上望，頸部後仰過度，也可能傷及血管，
導致中風。傷及「椎動脈血管」後會出現甚麼問題？
吳醫生解釋，因為椎動脈血管主要連接後腦及小腦，所以患者容易出現暈眩，感覺天旋地轉，
走路不穩。由於腦部負責視覺區，故此會影響視力。
資料來源：Daily mail
Woman, 40, suffered a stroke from YOGA after tearing a major blood
vessel in her neck while performing a tricky ‘hollowback’ handstand
Rebecca Leigh had been filming yoga tutorials for 26,000 social media fans
Over the day she saw symptoms of a stroke but didn’t connect the dots
She now has daily headaches, memory loss and struggles with speech
She continues to practice yoga for an hour every day after a six-week recovery
A woman has revealed she suffered a stroke by tearing a major blood vessel in
her neck while practising a yoga headstand.
Rebecca Leigh, 40, from Gambrills, Maryland, had been filming a tutorial for
her 26,000 social media fans just hours before the injury.
Her vision became blurry, her limbs weak and she had headaches, but she at first
thought she had slipped a disc in her neck, having had similar symptoms when
she done so in her twenties.
Two days later, after seeing a doctor, she was shocked to discover that despite
being young and healthy, she had suffered a stroke and was at risk of another
any minute thanks.
It is believed she tore her right carotid artery in her neck while performing a
‘hollowback’ handstand.
Today, Mrs Leigh cannot speak for more than a few minutes due to nerve damage,
has daily headaches and has severe memory loss.
But Mrs Leigh revealed just one month after the terrifying experience, she was back
on her mat and she still practices yoga for an hour every day.
Mrs Leigh’s vision became blurry, her limbs weak and she had headaches, but she put it down to a prior health condition. Two days later, after seeing a doctor, she was shocked to discover she had in fact suffered a stroke. Pictured in hospital
Mrs Leigh, who was barely able to get out of bed as her artery healed,
said: ‘After decades of focusing on working out and my diet and making as
many healthy decisions as I could for my body, having a stroke by doing yoga
just didn’t seem fair.
‘But I had to get back out there and do the things that made me happy and one
of those things was obviously my yoga practice.’
Acarotid artery dissection (CAD) occurs when blood leaks into a tear in the
wall of the blood vessel.
As the blood pools, it causes the layers of the artery wall to separate.
This prevents oxygenreaching the brain and is a major cause of stroke,
mostly in people under the age of 50.
Mrs Leigh said: ‘I was on my front porch practicing a pretty intense type of yoga
handstand called a hollowback handstand.
‘This pose requires you to extend your neck, drop your hips back and arch
your lower spineall while in a headstand.
‘I felt that I had really nailed it but as I walked inside my house, my peripheral
vision wentout and the rest of my vision became blurry.
‘It was like a curtain coming down all around me.
‘I sat down and tried to put my hair into a ponytail but my left arm flopped around
without any control.’
At first Mrs Leigh attributed the symptoms to the severely herniated discs in her
neck whichshe had been diagnosed with in her early twenties.
She said: ‘I knew that arm numbness could be a symptom of that. It only lasted for five
minutes but then my head began to hurt.
‘I have suffered from headaches and migraines since I was a teenager but
I knew this was different.’
Two days later, Mrs Leigh was horrified to notice that her pupils were different sizes.
‘My right eye drooped and my pupils were different sizes,’ she said.
‘It was terrifying. It was then that I knew something was very, very wrong.’
Mrs Leigh and husband Kevin, 45, who works in federal law enforcement, immediately
went to the emergency room where an MRI scan revealed Mrs Leigh had suffered a stroke.
She said: ‘The doctor on staff came into the little room we were waiting in and said in
a monotone voice: “Well, you my dear, had a stroke”.
‘Kevin and I both let out a little laugh, because we thought he had to be kidding.
‘There was no way that someone my age, in my health, could have had a stroke.
But he responded to our laughter in solemn silence and his face said it all.’
She spent the next five days in the neurological intensive care unit as doctors battled to
understand why an active, healthy eating, non smoker aged 39 could have suffered a stroke.
Mrs Leigh said: ‘After all the blood work, ultrasounds, MRIs and CT scans,
it was finally a CTA scan that explained it.’
While doing handstands Mrs Leigh had torn her right carotid artery, one of the
four arteries that supplies blood to the brain.
The tear sent a blood clot to her brain which caused the stroke and the trauma
of the tear in the wall of the artery also caused a small aneurysm, a bulge in the vessel, to develop.
WHAT IS A CAROTID TEAR?
A carotid dissection is a tear in one of your carotid arteries. These are a set of
two arteries at the sides of your neck that supply blood to your brain.
A dissection is a tear of the inner layer of the wall of an artery. The tear lets blood
get in between the layers of the wall and separate them. This causes the artery wall to bulge.
The bulge can slow or stop blood flow through the artery. It can also cause problems
by pressing on nearby tissue or nerves.
The tear can also trigger your body’s clotting system. A clot can then block blood
flow at the site of the tear. Blocked or decreased blood flow can lead to a transient
ischemic attack (TIA) or a stroke.
A carotid dissection can happen at any age. It tends to occur more often in younger
adults than in older adults. It is a common cause of stroke in people younger than
age 50. It is slightly more common in men than in women.
This condition is often caused by a neck injury from things such as:
Swimming or scuba diving
Skating
Dancing
Playing sports such as tennis, basketball, or volleyball
Doing yoga
Riding roller coasters or other rides
Jumping on a trampoline
Giving birth
Having sex
Sneezing or coughing
Having a chiropractic adjustment to your neck (rare)
Source: Cedars-Sinal Hospital
At first Mrs Leigh felt fury and disbelief that something as healthy as yoga
could have triggered a stroke.
She said: ‘I couldn’t believe it. “How could this happen to me?” I was angry
at my body, I felt that it had betrayed me somehow.’
For six weeks, Mrs Leigh endured terrible pain with constant headaches
which made any kind of light unbearable. She lost 20lbs (9kg) and
couldn’t get out of bed without help.
She said: ‘The stroke caused massive head pain, unlike any headache
I had ever experienced before.
‘I couldn’t shower without help, wash my hair, feed myself,
or take my pile of scary and unfamiliar, life-saving medications.
‘The nerve damage made any sort of light unbearable.
‘The pain it caused my eyes was excruciating. My usually bright,
sunlight-filled house was kept completely dark for the first few months.
‘For the first three months I heard a constant “wooshing” sound in
my right ear. That was the sound of the blood trying to get through my artery up into my brain.
But slowly she began to notice improvement and was able to take
short walks outside by herself.
Mrs Leigh said: ‘I slowly started to take two to three-minute walks outside.
I started to make simple meals for myself and I was able to sit up in bed to watch TV.
‘These small accomplishments felt huge to me.’
Incredibly just one month after the stroke, Mrs Leigh was back on her yoga mat.
She said: ‘I simply sat on my mat in lotus pose and listened to my breath.
I slowly led back up to simple stretches and the poses that felt most safe to me.
‘I knew that if I didn’t get back to my practice relatively soon after my stroke,
I never would. I would have freaked myself out too much about it.’
The yoga obsessive was back on her mat a month later, slowly building her strength after being bed bound and cared for by her husband. Pictured before the stroke
At Mrs Leigh’s six-month scan, doctors told her that her carotid artery
had completely healed. The aneurysm however was still there and Mrs Leigh feels the effects daily.
She said: ‘The immediate arm numbness that I experienced during the stroke
went away that day, but in its place is a nearly constant tingly sensation.
‘It’s like a wave of electricity is going back and forth from my elbow to my hand and back
over and over again.
‘I am still dealing with some sort of headache, face or neck pain on a daily basis.
‘The carotid artery apparently houses a bundle of nerves and when it was torn,
those nerves were damaged.
‘My face physically hurts and gets worse just by talking for a few minutes or having a busy day.
‘My eye is still a bit droopy and my memory is awful. I forget things quickly.
I have to ask people to remind me of things they’ve already told me, something
I never had to do prior to my injury.
‘I fatigue much quicker than I did before. It doesn’t take more than a trip to the
grocery store to count me out for the rest of the day.’
But the most damaging after effect is the fear that the stroke could strike again at any moment.
Mrs Leigh said: ‘It’s very hard to recover from something so scary that came out of
nowhere. You think you’re doing everything right and then when something like this happens,
it’s hard not to think that it can happen again.’
But the yogi is happy to be back on her mat, practicing sun salutations.
She said: ‘About a year after my stroke I was about 75 per cent back to where
I was before my stroke.
‘I know I will never be where I was before 100 per cent. The fact that I can touch
my toes is enough to make me smile.
‘I wanted to share my story so that something like this doesn’t happen to any other yogis.
I had never heard of it happening before it had happened to me.
‘If I had read of just one incidence of something similar, I would have known that
a stroke was a very real possibility when I was experiencing my symptoms.
‘That it wasn’t my neck, my herniated discs or my nerves. It was my brain gasping for its life.’
WHAT IS A STROKE?
There are two kinds of stroke:
1. ISCHEMIC STROKE
An ischemic stroke – which accounts for 80 percent of strokes – occurs
when there is a blockage in a blood vessel that prevents blood from reaching part of the brain.
2. HEMORRHAGIC STROKE
The more rare, a hemorrhagic stroke, occurs when a blood vessel bursts,
flooding part of the brain with too much blood while depriving other areas of adequate blood supply.
It can be the result of an AVM, or arteriovenous malformation (an abnormal cluster of blood vessels),
in the brain.
Thirty percent of subarachnoid hemorrhage sufferers die before reaching the hospital.
A further 25 percent die within 24 hours. And 40 percent of survivors die within a week.
RISK FACTORS
Age, high blood pressure, smoking, obesity, sedentary lifestyle, diabetes,
atrial fibrillation, family history, and history of a previous stroke or
TIA are all risk factors for having a stroke.
SYMPTOMS OF A STROKE
Sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm or leg, especially on one side of the body
Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding
Sudden trouble seeing or blurred vision in one or both eyes
Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination
Sudden severe headache with no known cause
OUTCOMES
Of the roughly three out of four people who survive a stroke,
many will have life-long disabilities.
This includes difficulty walking, communicating, eating,
and completing everyday tasks or chores.
TREATMENT
Both are potentially fatal, and patients require surgery or a drug called tPA
(tissue plasminogen activator) within three hours to save them.