Yoga appears to pose a higher risk of muscle pain than expected. The number of injuries resulting from Yoga appears to be ten times higher than previously thought.
‘Yoga, not as gentle as believed’
Yoga causes muscle pain in ten percent of practitioners, comparable to sports in general. Additionally, 21 percent of pre-existing conditions worsen due to Yoga. This is the outcome of recent research from the University of Sydney [1]. According to these findings, the risk of injuries is significantly higher than previously thought.
On one hand, as a yoga enthusiast, this might not be welcome news. Yoga is often recommended as a relatively safe way to work on mobility and muscle strength maintenance. Now, it appears that this method carries certain risks, possibly making it no safer than other sports.
On the other hand, as a yoga enthusiast, you can now present convincing data showing that yoga is not as ‘gentle’ as commonly believed.
Yoga, Muscle Pain, and Injuries
The researchers published their findings in the Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies. It is purported to be the first study where recreational yoga practitioners were followed for a period (in this case, one year), documenting the number of muscle pain occurrences and injuries.
It’s important to emphasize that “musculoskeletal pain” as mentioned in the research is not the normal muscle soreness (or delayed onset muscle soreness) that can result from exercise. This refers to muscle pain and injuries that are unintended negative effects of the training:
Our study found that the incidence of pain caused by yoga is more than 10 per cent per year, which is comparable to the injury rate of all sports injuries combined among the physically active population. However people consider it to be a very safe activity. This injury rate is up to 10 times higher than has previously been reported.
We also found that yoga can exacerbate existing pain, with 21 per cent of existing injuries made worse by doing yoga, particularly pre-existing musculoskeletal pain in the upper limbs.
So, ten percent of injuries and muscle pain per year and exacerbation of a fifth of existing complaints. In a third of cases, the ‘new’ complaints were so severe that individuals couldn’t practice yoga for more than three months. Most new complaints related to the upper body, especially shoulders, elbows, wrists, and hands proved injury-prone, possibly due to exercises like the ‘downward dog’. In this position, the arms are placed above shoulder level, putting significant pressure on them.
A limitation of the study is that it included 354 yoga practitioners from only two different yoga studios. It raises the question of how representative those two studios are for yoga in general, aside from the different yoga styles within.
Yoga: More Improvement than Deterioration
However, the research also shows positive effects. In fact, the number of existing complaints that were alleviated or relieved by yoga was three times higher than the number of complaints that worsened. 74 percent of existing complaints improved through yoga.
The researchers also suggest that the benefits of yoga should be compared to those of other activities, looking at both the likelihood of improvement and deterioration of complaints. Additionally, instructors could consider certain risk areas and exercises. By taking these into account (in program determination and providing information about potential injuries), the balance between ‘benefits and costs’ could be improved.
Reference
- Marc Campo, Mariya P. Shiyko, Mary Beth Kean, Lynne Roberts, Evangelos Pappas. Musculoskeletal pain associated with recreational yoga participation: A prospective cohort study with 1-year follow-up. Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies, 2017
