How do you hurt yourself in yoga class

“Why are there so many people with yoga injuries?” asked Nancy, the receptionist at my physiotherapy clinic. They have been noticing an increase in yoga related injuries over the last couple of years.

“The reason for the increase in yoga injuries is the increasing popularity of yoga.” Alice told Nancy as she sipped her coffee. “The rate of injury has remained about constant based on the number of people that are taking yoga.”

“But how do people injure themselves with yoga? I thought it was such a gentle exercise.” Responded Nancy.

Alice went on to explain that people get injured while doing yoga in two ways: mostly they injure themselves while working on a pose and rarely their teacher injures them.

The most common way for people to get a yoga injury is by themselves.

How do people injure themselves

There are many ways that a person can injure themselves while doing yoga including:

1. ego
2. poor alignment
3. ignoring feedback from your body
4. going beyond their edge

Ego

Your ego is the biggest villain of this group. You look around at the people around you in class. You see people doing the same pose as you and it looks so much better than what you are able to do. Your ego demands that you do the pose at least as well if not better than your neighbour.

So, you push yourself to go further into the pose than your body is able to go and suddenly you are in pain. Your ego may be satisfied that you did the pose as well as the person next door but now you have an injury to deal with.

It takes about 6 months of practising yoga before you are able to control your ego and accept where you are at in a yoga pose and reduce this source of yoga injuries.

“Your ego is the most common cause of yoga injuries.” Alice said to Nancy “But it is not alone. Poor alignment results in a lot of injuries as well.”

Poor Alignment

Your joints, tendons and ligaments will get injured if they have unequal forces applied to them. When doing a yoga pose it is important to get your alignment right.

Your yoga teacher demonstrates the yoga pose for you and then you work on getting into the pose as best you can. Sometimes what you see the teacher do is not the same as what you do when you execute the pose. You end up with your joint out of alignment. Yoga poses tend to take you to the limit of your range of motion for a joint and it is at this limit where your joint is at risk of injury due to the poor alignment.

Your yoga teacher can help you avoid this source of injury by checking your alignment as you enter the pose and if necessary they will modify the pose to accommodate your body or maybe even recommend a different pose altogether.

Related to poor alignment is ignoring the feedback from your body.

Ignoring feedback from your body

Your body is giving you feedback all of the time. Most people when they first start a yoga practice are not that aware of the feedback from their body nor the significance of it.

For example when you enter a yoga pose and you feel a stretching sensation in your knee it may be a good thing or a bad thing. If the stretching is balanced around the knee it is probably a good thing. If it is unbalanced then it is a bad thing and you are at risk of injuring your knee.

The longer you do yoga the more attuned you become to your body and the feedback it gives you. You will be able to recognize the difference between positive and negative feedback.

With the positive feedback you know it is safe to keep going further into the pose and with the negative feedback you know that it is time to back off a little bit and protect yourself.

Being able to recognize the difference between positive and negative feedback in your body leads us to the next source of yoga injuries, going beyond your edge.

Going beyond your edge

Nancy takes a bite out of her blueberry muffin and asks Alice “I have never heard of the edge before. What is that?”

Your edge is that challenging but safe place in a yoga pose. There three places you can be in a yoga pose:

1. You can be in a comfortable and non challenging place which is well short of your edge.
2. You can be just short of your edge in a safe but challenging place.
3. You can be in a very challenging place where you are at risk of injuring yourself. You are beyond your edge and into a danger zone.

Quite a few people when they first start a yoga practice are not aware of the concept of the edge and push themselves to the maximum extent possible. They push beyond their edge into the danger zone and risk injuring their muscles and joints.

It takes time to develop the ability to find your edge and work with it. The problem is that your edge is in different places in each pose. Not only that, it is in different places from one day to the next.

Once you are able to find your edge and work with it you will be able improve your yoga poses and avoid injury.

“Wow! There are a lot of ways that a person can injure themselves when they are doing yoga.” Nancy said with surprise.

“Yes there are.” responded Alice “But there are few things you can do to protect yourself and enjoy yoga.”

How to avoid injuring yourself

To protect yourself follow these guidelines.

1. accept where you are at. Leave your ego at the door and celebrate the success you have with the pose today. Do not worry about how your pose compares to your neighbour or the person next door.
2. watch your alignment. Get your teacher to help you with your alignment. Your teacher will be able to tell if you have poor alignment and correct it quickly.
3. seek alternate poses. Your teacher has modifications for the pose that will work with the current flexibility of your body. They may also suggest a different pose all together that may be a better choice.
4. Work with your edge. Your teacher can help you to find your edge and show you how to use your edge to safely move further into a pose. Working with your edge requires that you become aware of and work with the feedback from your body.

Summary

As they got up to leave the coffee shop Alice said that the most important thing you can do is to work with an experienced yoga teacher.

A good yoga teacher will help you with the common causes of yoga injury:

• Your ego
• Poor alignment
• Ignoring feedback
• Going beyond your edge

Next Steps

When you start your yoga practice look for an experienced yoga teacher. Hook up with a friend that has more experience with yoga and go to some classes with them.

Additional Reading

Read Why a defensive driving course is required for a safe practice for another view on preventing yoga injuries.

Why you should embrace the Ugly Duckling pose helps you with managing your ego.

The article Goldilocks and the 3 bears find the edge gives you more information about your edge and working with it.