Is Yoga Damaging Your Body?

Research reveals the injury rate among yoga fans may be 10 times higher than once thought – but experts claim it needn’t leave you in pain

- Sarah Ivory

Ever found yourself heading to a yoga class to ward off muscle pain? You’re not the only one. Approximately 30 million people worldwide practise yoga, and many do it to reap yoga’s injury-proofing benefits – including increased suppleness, reduced tension, less fascia tightness and a greater range of motion. ‘Yoga has the potential to undo the negative effects of repetitive movements such as using mobile devices or sitting hunched over a desk all day,’ says Michele Pernetta, founder of Fierce Grace (fiercegrace.com). ‘It achieves this by taking the body through its full range of motion and releasing adhesions, stiffness and joint compression.’

There’s little doubt yoga is good for you – it builds up muscle, stretches fascia and boosts whole-body strength. In downward dog, for example, the triceps, shoulder, lower back and front leg muscles work as stabilisers (contract and strengthen), while the biceps, upper back and back leg muscles work as mobilisers (stretch and lengthen). This stretching and strengthening creates a stronger, more resilient body.

THE DARK SIDE

Performed incorrectly, however, yoga can cause harm. The latest research from the University of Sydney in Australia shows that yoga causes musculoskeletal pain in 10 per cent of people and makes 21 per cent of injuries worse, not better.

‘While yoga can be beneficial for musculoskeletal pain, like any form of exercise, it can also result in musculoskeletal pain,’ says lead researcher, associate professor Evangelos Pappas, from the University’s Faculty of Health Sciences, ‘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.’