Regular yoga practice will make you sleep better, increase flexibility and strength. Improve physical and mental health. But if you are not careful, yoga can also cause damage, especially wrists, lower back, shoulders, elbows, knees, hamstrings and neck.
Below are six of the most common yoga injuries. Let's see how to avoid it.
wrist
wrist is a very small joint that is often uncomfortable due to excessive use. Many yoga poses are hand-to-handed. This is not what our bodies are used to. For example, lower dog , side plate type, four-post support, inverted handstand, crow style and arm balance, if done incorrectly, it will aggravate wrist pain. Take the time to focus on the right position of your hands and wrists, even in basic poses
It is recommended to warm up properly and slowly increase pressure before putting the full body weight on your wrist. Keep the weight evenly distributed on both hands, especially between the palm and thumb knuckles.
Tips: Avoid the palms being cup-shaped and the fingers are rotating inward. Don't let your shoulders move forward too much than your wrists. Use yoga wedge , rolled mat or towel to relieve extra stress on your wrist.
Low-back
Overtension of the main muscle groups on the back, or forcing muscles to lengthen, is the cause of the injury. It may damage your sacroiliac joint, which connects sacral and pelvic bones and supports the spine. The key to preventing this injury is to spread the toes outward and push the bones under the big toe joint away from the body. This pulls all the muscles in the legs towards the bones, thus taking away the pressure from the SI joint.
Tips:
- Bend your knees to relieve stress on your lower back. Keep your knees slightly bent throughout the exercise.
- Slow down during the twisting process, take a deep breath, and slowly enter and exit the body.
- starts the lower abdomen, and the core strength helps to create a strong and safe back.
Shoulder or elbow
The most common yoga injury is repetitive strain or pressure injury (RSIs), which are caused by repeated or powerful exercises to the musculoskeletal system or nervous system. Repetitive strain is usually caused by repeated mistaken asanas, maintaining one asanas for a long time, or excessive asanas or series of asanas. The shoulders and elbows are often practiced by mistake by (repeatedly) incorrectly, or too much vinaya during the practice.
Repeated pressure overloads the shoulder joint. Especially [affecting] the intersection of the humerus (upper arm bone) and clavicle (upper sternum), congestion between the two bone joints will cause muscle strain and tissue inflammation. This injury can be prevented by pushing the heel backward while lowering the body.
It is recommended to keep your shoulders backward and downward away from your ears as much as possible. For example, in , in , when you press the palm completely, make the clavicle wider, and when stretching or tying, be careful not to pull the shoulders too hard.
Knee
Knee discomfort, tension or pain. This is mainly due to tight hips or pre-existing damage. When bending, your knee should be along your second middle toe, turning your thighs (your front knee or bent leg), so that your knees are facing toward the side of your foot’s little toe. Keep your knees slightly bent when straightening. Try not to lock your knees, as this is not good for joints.
hamstrings
When you bend forward without shrinking the front side of the body, quadriceps and lower abdomen, hamstring injuries often occur. If the hamstring stretch only comes from the back, the risk coefficient of this injury will be very high.
In straight-leg yoga poses, such as standing forward flexion, it is easy to stretch or overstretch the hamstrings. Keep your knees slightly bent and focus on extending your spine instead of bent on your lower back as you fold forward. It is recommended to use yoga brick to pull the ground closer, and use a blanket to help the pelvis lean forward when sitting and flexing forward.
Everyone's body and yoga practice process are different. The goal of yoga is not to perform any specific pose. It is a physical and mental experience. Move forward at your own speed. Remember to give yourself some time to open up parts of your body that are more susceptible to injury
