Avoiding Injury with Your Yoga Practice

by Clarissa Adkins | More from this Blogger

14 Jan 2007 10:38 PM

The fact that yoga is not high-impact makes a lot of people skeptical about believing that someone could get injured doing it. I will be the first person to recommend yoga to people who are afraid of getting injured by other forms of exercise, or who have a previous condition that they don't want to aggravate, so the last thing I want to do is scare anyone away from trying it. However, just like anything else, it is possible to get injured if you aren't careful. Stick with the following to make sure that you have a healthy and safe practice.

1. Don't stretch too far. Flexibility increases little by little. I have seen people improve their flexibility dramatically within a month of starting a yoga practice, so don't feel like you need to rush it. The flexibility will come. The key is to find the balance where your stretches don't hurt, yet are challenging.

As a special note, pregnant women should keep their stretching to a minimum. The chemical relaxin is produced while a woman is pregnant, which can make the joints susceptible to injury if she stretches too deeply. Spinal twists should be avoided.

2. Use your breath as a guide. I always tell my classes that if they catch themselves not breathing during a pose, then they may be doing too much.

3. Ask your doctor. We always hear this at the beginning of exercise DVDs and when we sign a contract to join a gym. Of course, some of this is for liability reasons. In many cases, however, we should heed this advice. If you have a condition like high blood pressure or glaucoma, for example, there may be some yoga poses that are contraindicated for you. Ask your physician if there is anything that you should avoid doing in your yoga practice.

Related articles:

Hormonal Changes in Early Pregnancy

Is Exercise Safe for Me?

Stretching -- What You Need to Know

Learn more about Clarissa Adkins

Clarissa is a wife and mother, a yoga instructor and a freelance writer. She most recently has moved back to her home state of Virginia.

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