Yoga is considered a safe, low-impact form of exercise and many people even follow an ideology connected with meditation and yoga.
The Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies has recently published a research study in which up to 10 % of yoga practitioners regret having chosen this kind of exercise. Why? Because they somehow hurt themselves while doing yoga poses. Mind you most of them have already had previous injuries.
How is it possible?
Evangelos Pappas, an associate professor from the University of Sidney and Marc Campo, a professor from Mercy Colle in New York, have found during their research that yoga poses can be the cause of musculoskeletal pain. This percentage is similar to the injury rate of most sports injuries combined. A cause for these injuries is because certain yoga movements increased pre-existing pain.
The research study
The research study was during a one year period of time and 354 subjects from two yoga studios were monitored. A third of the subjects who got injured stopped yoga exercises for a minimal period of three months. It is important to mention that most of the subjects did not experience any injury during yoga practice and 74% of the subjects with pre-existing pains have improved with the help of yoga poses.
What causes injuries during yoga practice?
According to Lauren Coles, from Daisy Yoga, most of the times people get injured when they do not receive proper and accurate instructions from their trainer. This might happen if the people teaching yoga are not properly qualified. If done right; yoga is nothing but beneficial for the human body and it has been practiced for centuries.
Recommendations
Experts advise yoga practitioners to be in tone with their own body. To learn how to listen to their body and respect it, by not forcing their body to perform movements they are not ready for yet.
