Oh no. Lady Gaga announced with sadness last night via her social media PA system that she needs to cancel shows immediately due to terrible case of “synovitis (severe inflammation of the joints).” The “Born This Way” pop star, a devout yogi and might have been legendary stilts walker, posted on twitter about a stage injury and chronic pain she’s been hiding for the past month that has gone beyond the point of toleration, even for a lady who delights in creating her own tootsie torture devices.
Due to a case of synovitis, (severe inflammation of joints) Gaga’s doctor has ordered her to postpone show in Chicago, Detroit + Hamilton
— Lady Gaga (@ladygaga) February 12, 2013
Not only is that a bummer to hear, it’s also pretty surprising. Well, sort of. On one hand, we know Gaga is a proud yogi (her style of choice primarily Bikram) but on the other paw, her stage antics and medieval living room furniture she calls shoes are bound to take a toll.
Synovitis is actually an inflammation of the lining of the joint (the synovial membrane) of a synovial joint (aka most of your joints: knee, shoulder, hip, wrist etc.). A common symptom of synovitis is swelling of the joints due to the pooling of synovial fluid, the stuff that lubricates the joints, helps with shock absorption and supplies oxygen and nutrients and removes carbon dioxide and metabolic wastes from the cells in your cartilage. Synovitis is often associated with arthritis, particularly rheumatoid arthritis, as well as lupus, gout and osteoarthritis.
Good grief, Gaga. We wish you well. And may we suggest a little Yin or restorative yoga on your down time, maybe even Iyengar? Pick up a copy of Yoga for Arthritis: The Complete Guide by Dr. Loren Fishman and Ellen Saltonstall, grab a cup of tea, a bolster or two and relax. It’s bunny slippers for you, sister.
We invite you to share your yoga suggestions for Lady Gaga in the comments.
UPDATE: Lady Gaga is forced to cancel the rest of her tour, 21 more dates, due to a labral tear in her right hip. She will need to have surgery and likely lots of R&R recovery time. The injury was caused by strenuous repetitive movements and is something that could certainly happen to any of us really, even in yoga. So a message to all: we’ve said it time and again, no yoga-ing on your platform shoes and meat dress dear yogsters. Seriously now, be safe. Get well soon, Gaga.
[image via]
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Earlier…
- Lady Gaga Responds to ‘Fat’ Criticism With Underwear Yoga Photos, Launch of ‘Body Revolution’
- Bikram’s Tricia Donegan On Elitists, and How Celebriyogi Lady Gaga Will Change the World
- Betsey Johnson Breaks Out Runway Yoga Performance at NY Fashion Week – Photos
- Krishna Das ‘Blissed Out’ Grammy Performance
- To Heel or Not To Heel…The Toe-nnoying Truth About High Heels
Did it ever occur to you that that it’s her yoga practice that injured her? And here you are perhaps naively suggesting she go back for more?
A lot of the better known yogis — and not just the celebrities, but long-time teachers — cover up their yoga injuries, to keep their yoga asana brand alive and the consumers unquestioning?
Would you care to interview Judith Lasater about her double hip replacement surgery? She’s just one.
It’s called repetitive motion injury — from asanas that place too much strain on he body joint and ligaments and cause chronic long-term damage. It can take years to show up.
Lasater and others didn’t necessarily practice these asanas incorrectly. The asanas themselves are the problem.
Henry, I would appreciate emailing you to discuss your posts of which I am in total agreement with
. You can find me at yogalign. aloha, Michaelle Edwards
maybe henry can interview post an interview of you in huffpo last week
Henry is right about yoga causing the synovitis and labral tears. Many yoga poses over-ride our natural joint functions and over stretch the the ligaments; which should function to stabilize the joints. Many yoga poses require people to put the body in a right angle shape which flattens the sacrum and creates lax ligaments in the sacral lumbar region. Years of straight knee forward bending and creating unnatural torque on the sacrum lead to a collapse of the main shock absorbing system in our body. The result is a compressed hip femur joint which leads to hip pain and in many cases replacements. I have treated hundreds of yogis with what I call the SSS syndrome or sagging sacrum syndrome. I started inventing YogAlign over twenty years ago when I noticed my hips hurt when I did certain positions. if you have been injured, go to http://www.yogalign.com to see how to shift yoga to keep your joints stable.
Yoga-induced labrum tear sufferer right here. Fearing surgery I’ve changed my yoga practice (and teaching) – but this shit’s no joke. As simple as a bad instructor or an egotistical practice on the mat and there goes your hip, your ability to even sit or walk … And clearly in this case, it hinders your work. For the record, I injured myself in a transition between warrior ii and trikonasana – a super common transition, but when you’re already in a potentially unstable joint situation, even a moment’s thoughtlessness can be devastating. I was on my back for six weeks. Sending her ( and all in pain ) healing thoughts.
Side note, now I’m glad I didn’t get tix to see her.
Sorry about your injury, but the previous two commentators sound like real yoga dorks. Truly. One injury of which you all don’t know the exact what or how – I mean were you like in HER BODY when she had the injury and knowing what she did to get it and how? One injury by a celeb that practices yoga and it’s like a piranha fest of folks talking like they are the Buddha of joints and ligaments with grand pronouncements and ready to blame it on the asana. The asana, the asana…..it’s all to do withe asana. Maybe she just fell in the bathroom? If we’d really listen to you folks, we’d wouldn’t leave the house, or maybe not even get out of bed for fear of injury.
My years of teaching yoga and performing bodywork is showing that some yoga poses do not serve our natural anatomical functions. “Any back specialist will advise people to avoid back strain by always bending the knees deeply, extending the hips back, and not rounding the upper back when leaning over to sit down or pick something up.” We are doing just the opposite of what doctors advise when we do yoga poses like uttanasana (standing forward bending with knees extended or straight) Just try to walk without bending your knees and you will feel the tension. When we lean over with that tension, our ligaments are put under pressure that does cumulative damage in the long run. What you will feel is akin to driving with the brakes on. What these poses do is stretch the ligament tension needed to create the natural nutation of our main shock absorber, the sacral platform and also knee ligaments needed to stabilize our knee function as a hinge. Lady Gaga is the latest famous yoga practitioner to suffer from synovitis, and severe hip joint inflammation of which the main cause is lax ligaments.The last thing she needs to do is yin yoga or more passive ligament stretching of the joints.”
What a great conversation!! I have personal experience as well with asana being unhealthy for my body. When I was pregnant, my already hypermobile body became so extra-mobile that I had to quite practicing yoga asana altogether. I went to Pilates since it was much safer for me. Not to say that prenatal or regular vinyasa yoga is bad for every pregnant woman, but for some women, even prenatal yoga is not the most healthy thing for an unstable pelvis during pregnancy . Also, post-natal, I’ve gone back to my regular asana practice, very carefully, but also have maintained a pilates practice which I find to be safer than asana in a lot of ways. I still love my asana, believe me, but unfortunately my body type needs a lot of work to stabilize, and pilates does a far better job of that. Glad to see that I’m not the only yogi out there who needs to be careful in asana practice!!! I honestly have felt like a “bad yogi” for not being able to throw myself into a crazy asana practice, since in the long run, it would be bad for me. Glad to see I am not alone. 🙂
LA< you are not alone at all and there is nothing wrong with your body. Most yogis complain of having a sore sacroiliac joint and overtime, this leads to a laxity in the sacral platform caused by too many straight leg forward bending poses. Bending over with our knees straight whether standing or sitting creates a stretching of the forces that hold our knees stable and our sacrum in its natural nutation. Try walking around without bending your knees and then ask yourself what are you really stretching when you lean over with out bending your knees deeply? Any back doctor will tell you to bend over with knees bent, hips back and shoulders away from the ears. Toddlers know more about how to bend over than adult stretching and yoga teachers.
Making your abdominals tight can be a problem too so careful on the Pilates unless you have the natural curve in your back. Never learn compartmentalized ab workouts that cause your lumbar spine or back to flatten. Curves in our spine are needed for shock absorption and joint function. Women need the majority of all hip replacement surgeries because we are naturally more flexible and over stretching happens by sitting poorly, stretching the sacral and hip joints in yoga class and by doing positions that do not simulate how the body is designed to move. You are so WISE to stop the yoga as many people like Lady Gaga will wind up with loosened ligaments then hip pain and in many cases replacements. I invented YogAlign as a way to get strong and flexible without risking your joints. check it out.
Thanks Michaelle! (Sorry for the late response!)
And yeah- my Pilates teacher is super gentle and was really good with the abs-stuff during my pregnancy. Excited to check out YogAlign. Sounds perfect for me! Thanks for all the info!!
Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, activist, businesswoman, fashion designer and actress. Born and raised in New York City, she primarily studied at the Convent of the Sacred Heart and briefly attended New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts before withdrawing to focus on her musical career. She soon began performing in the rock music scene of Manhattan’s Lower East Side. By the end of 2007, record executive and producer Vincent Herbert signed her to his label Streamline Records, an imprint of Interscope Records. Initially working as a songwriter at Interscope Records, her vocal abilities captured the attention of recording artist Akon, who also signed her to Kon Live Distribution, his own label under Interscope.;’,’
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