Yoga has many health benefits and can help reduce blood pressure, improve circulation, maintain digestive health, increase physical strength and flexibility, and more. However, as a physical activity, it challenges our bodies and may at times lead to injuries. Whether your brand new or have been practicing for years, yoga injuries are common, but you can avoid and prevent them by following our tips below!
The most common injuries due to yoga are:
- Knee
- Neck
- Wrist
- Shoulders
- Elbows
- Lower Back
- Hamstrings
The best ways to avoid common yoga injuries are:
- Leave Your Ego Aside
- Warm Up
- Go Easy On Yourself
- Communication
- Come Out of Poses Slowly
- Use Props or Modify Poses
- Micro Bends At The Knee
Injuries can happen either due to overstretching or misalignment. These yoga related injuries have increased over the past few years. Most yoga injuries are not severe, but serious ones can occur like strains, fractures, sprains, dislocations, sciatic nerve damage and also stroke. It is very important to do the poses properly and correctly and not overdo it.
One must accept that yoga can cause injury and so our awareness off the mat should be valuable in avoiding yoga injuries. People have this myth that inexperienced students suffer injuries but that’s not true. Experienced and ambitious practitioners too may find their bodies vulnerable. Sometimes intense yoga training can cause a muscular fatigue which may lead to injury even on experienced yoga practitioner. It is very important to pay attention to our body signals.
Mostly a beginner or inexperienced yoga practitioner may not understand the warning signs. Most of the injuries happen when there is misalignment in a pose. Sometimes the practitioner may have a prior injury like minor swelling in the neck or shoulders that may add up while doing the pose. This can occur even if the student is doing the pose correctly.
Common Yoga Injuries:
Knees
Often due to tight hips or underlying injury, people feel pain and discomfort in the knee. It is necessary to keep the knee over the second middle toe while bending. A micro bend should be kept in the knee while keeping the legs straight to avoid any injury. A cross legged position causes knee issues most of the time. The hips should not be tight during the pose as it will cause pain in the knees. One must avoid cross-legged position or Full lotus poses for long periods to avoid knee pain. It is always better to use props like block or blanket under the knees to avoid strain. It is very important to make sure that the body is bearing weight properly. One should avoid twisting out of alignment in various poses like pigeon pose, warrior pose etc.
Neck
Strain in a neck occurs when there are issues with the cervical vertebrae. When there is too much pressure on the neck during a shoulder stand pose or a headstand pose the injury can occur. Neck injury usually takes time to heal. One should avoid putting too much weight on the neck especially on poses like head stand and shoulder stand. In poses such as inversion also, it is better to distribute the weight more on the arms. One should always be aware of one’s body limit and getting the right instructions. One should never force one self onto the poses as all everybody’s body and yoga journey is different. People tend to forget seeing yoga as a mind-body experience and sometimes are more concerned on physical performance instead which can lead to injury.
Wrist
A small joint like wrist plays a very important role in poses like side planks, handstand, downward facing dog and other arm balances. But if the pose is done wrong then it can cause wrist pain. Wrist pain is usually the top complaint and happens most often with fast moving yoga practices like moving the forearms past the wrists. So it is necessary that even while doing basic poses, we must always be aware of the alignment of our wrists and hands.
To prevent injury on the wrist, one must warm up and slowly add pressure before putting the full body weight on wrists. One must avoid taking their shoulders too far forward past the wrists. A yoga wedge can work wonders if one doesn’t want to put all the pressure on the wrists. A good warm up is beneficial for distributing one’s weight and for better alignment. One should roll up the mat or have the fingers on a downward tilt to help reduce pressure.
Shoulders/Elbows
Repetitive strain and stress injuries occur repeatedly if a pose is done incorrectly or if a person overdoes it. Also the amount of time is equally important. Hence it is necessary to modify a certain pose if one feels sensitivity in shoulders or elbows. One should keep the elbow tucked along the ribs while bending in such a way that the elbows creases face forward. One should avoid poseswhich leads to overextending or overstretching in the shoulders that could lead to rotator cuff injuries
Lower back
The most common place of injury in yoga is the lower back. In poses like forward folds or downward dog, a rounding can occur through the spine which can cause injury in lower back. This rounding can cause various disc as well as lower back muscular problems. Sometimes one over stretches the major muscle group in the back which causes irritation and injury. Mostly when people feel competitive about doing certain poses in yoga then it results in lower back strains. People should understand that alignment is necessary and not progress. People already having issues regarding lower back should reduce the total number of twists in their yoga routine. Balance and stability are the key factors which provide safety.
Hamstrings
When people do fold forward pose without contracting the front side of the body and the lower abdomen then hamstring injuries may occur. It is very important that the front of the body provides stability as the hamstring stretch should not only come from the back body. It is a myth that for increasing flexibility one must do deep stretching. Proper alignment and control should be there while doing a pose. One must avoid sudden movement and pushing oneself too hard as it can cause a muscle strain.
And speaking of muscles, here’s how yoga can build muscles and which poses to practice for that.
It is always advisable to keep a slight bend in the knees while forward folding and the aim should be to lengthen the spine and not rounding at the low back. One should make use of the blocks or bolsters in both standing as well as seated forward folds. It is recommended to not go past the limits. Also repeated stretching and doing a pose aggressively should be avoided. One should always remember to go slowly and work at one’s own pace.
How To Avoid Common Yoga Injuries:
Leave Your Ego Aside
The practice of yoga is also the practice of letting go of the ego and expanding your sense of self. Sometimes, those experienced in yoga can become self absorbed, self righteous, or overly competitive with other yogi’s and this can cause injuries. First and foremost, you must stop trying to be the best at yoga too quickly or exceeding your own abilities. Doing advanced poses without proper experience and guidance can cause injury. This is more common with beginners. However, even more experienced yogi’s can cause injury by overly exerting themselves. Hence you should leave aside you ego and not overly challenge you own body.
Warm Up
Before making any transition or progressing into a complex pose, it is necessary to warm up first. The common mistake people do is they skip warm up which lead to injury. Taking few deep, slow breaths or chanting ‘om’ gives that mind a break, slows down the breath and heart rate, and is a good warm up. This will help prepare the body for the sequence of poses.
Go Easy On Yourself
If you are doing yoga for the first time or are a beginner then you should not expect to do advanced poses immediately. Instead, you should opt for beginner friendly poses and eventually develop a foundation for more advanced moves. Hence you should never complicate things unnecessarily and take it easy on the body until you are more experienced and feel comfortable progressing to more advanced poses.
Communication
If you are practicing yoga and have certain issues or questions regarding the pose, then you should communicate regarding any concerns with your yoga teacher. Also if you are not comfortable doing any pose, you can ask for props or a pose modification. If you are suffering from problems like a slipped or herniated disc or any kind of fracture or joint issues then the teacher should be informed before the class.
Come Out of Poses Slowly
If the yoga practitioner is holding a pose for several minutes then it is necessary to come out of that pose slowly and gradually. This is especially important for poses that put significant pressure on the knees, hips or sacroiliac joints such as pigeon pose.
Use Props or Modify Poses
Sometimes it is important to modify a pose according to one’s comfort to avoid the injury. Usually people who are experienced in yoga are able to change or modify the pose but that’s often not the case with beginners. Props help the body to get a feel for a pose and work up to its full variation without causing any injury.
To learn more about Yoga Pose Modifications that Feel Great for Your Body, go here.
For your home practice, you can also improvise and create your own home yoga props – see more here.
Micro Bends At The Knee
Hyper extension or locking may cause injury in joints. To gain stability one must micro bend the knee of the straight leg. Hence one must never lock the joints.
Conclusion
These are the steps to avoid injury due to yoga poses. If you do get injured and the condition does not improve with an ice pack, heat, elevation, and basic over the counter inflammation drugs like ibuprofen, then it may be necessary for you to get evaluated by a professional. It is important to listen to you own body so that you can be sensitive to any tightness or strain. Sometimes in yoga we may be able to do a particular pose one day and might not be able to do the same the next day which is okay. All the students must move according to one’s own pace and not compare themselves with other students in the room. It is also important to master the modifications and building up core and shoulder strength before trying new poses. People already facing neck and shoulder issues must avoid full inversion poses.
References
https://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/news/20170803/when-ouch-comes-with-the-ahh-yoga-has-risks
https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/9-benefits-of-yoga
https://blog.myfitnesspal.com/5-common-yoga-injuries-and-how-to-prevent-them/
Shanti Arunkumar, Senior Contributor At L’Aquila Active
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