Not all yoga is created equal: some tips to help you avoid injury
Yoga is known for its many mind/body benefits: It releases tension, prevents injury, creates more flexibility, adds strength and balance, and calms the mind.
But despite its reputation as a gentle, low-impact practice, yoga carries risks, as with any exercise routine. The practice can exacerbate carpal tunnel syndrome, add instability to joints, and contribute to strains, sprains and tendinitis. A study in the Orthopedic Journal of Sports Medicine reported that there were close to 30,000 yo- ga-related injuries seen in emergency rooms from 2001 to 2014. Most injuries were to the upper body and constituted strains and sprains. The greatest injury increase was in people age 65 and older. That doesn’t mean older adults, or anyone, should steer clear of yoga. But you need to know the risks of yoga, the appropriate types of yoga for you and ways to stay injury-free.
“I see quite a bit of yoga-related injuries,” says Bobby Chhabra, an orthopedic surgeon with the University of Virginia Health System. “Mostly it’s overuse injuries like tendinitis and sprains.”
When it comes to overuse, yoga usually doesn’t cause the injury but can exacerbate it, Chhabra says. For example, wrists that spend the day in an extended position at a keyboard and then are forced to extend even further in positions such as downward dog, upward dog and chaturanga (a type of pushup) can be vulnerable to tendinitis and carpal tunnel.
People with arthritis also need to be extra cautious when it comes to yoga, because arthritic joints “can really flare up during yoga and result in a week to 10 days of pain,” he says. Yogis with arthritis could consider a gentler form of the practice or at least avoid overloading arthritic joints. People with osteoporosis should avoid forward bends and twists.