Yoga teachers injuring themselves posing for Instagram posts
Instagram-conscious yoga instructors are falling victim to injuries because they are trying challenging poses that will look good on social media, experts have warned.
The desire to teach the discipline “purely for aesthetic reasons” is leading to a rise in the number of yoga teachers suffering injuries, particularly in their hips.
Benoy Mathew, a physiotherapist who works at the Harley Street Physio in London, and specialises in hips and knees, said the practice had become over-commercialised, resulting in inexperienced people being attracted into teaching it and pushing themselves too far.
“When I first started seeing patients eight years ago, I would see around one yoga teacher every six months. But now I am seeing four to five every month,” he said.
“Social media has definitely contributed to this feeling of having to take it to the next level and that’s purely for aesthetic reasons. Just because you can get your head to touch the floor, you might manage to get an ego boost, but it doesn’t necessarily mean you are going to have a huge health boost. You are just leaving yourself with more problems.”
Teaching the ancient practice does not require any specific qualifications, according to Britain’s governing body. Mathew believes this is a contributing factor to the increase in injuries.
“There is a big variation in the experience of yoga instructors,” he said. “Some people who teach the sport come from a fitness background with a lot of knowledge of the body, whereas others come from a purely aesthetic background.
“It has been over commercialised and I think that is what is causing a lot of the problems.”
A study published in the British
Medical Journal last year said 64 per cent of yoga injuries occur in the lower half of the body including the hip, hamstring and knee.
Poppy Pickles, a London yoga teacher, said yoga teachers often experience nasty injuries because there is a “pressure” to prove they are better than their students . “There’s pressure as a yoga teacher to show that you are better than your students,” she said.