Have you been hurt practicing yoga?

Yoga Discussion General Yoga
#1

I’m curious if any of you have been hurt while practicing yoga. If so, how and why do you feel the injury occurred?

My worst injury occurred when I was quite new to yoga. I was in a forward bend where my right leg wasn’t able to get straight due to my lack of flexibility and other issues. The teacher said, “Take your hand and press your leg straight” which I did. The next thing I knew, it was as if a match had been taken to the side of my knee. I tore something and it took a solid three years for it to not be painful, although it’s still not 100% to this day. My guess is I probably should have had surgery.

Was the teacher’s instruction wrong? It’s debatable, but in my opinion, yes. I of course take some personal responsibility for the injury as well.

Any other yoga injuries out there?

#2

I once did a power flow class followed by a yin class, while practicing in the yin class I assumed I knew better than my body and tried to bend into some deep poses… I ended up doing something to a nerve in my left leg and I had some numbness and a tingling sesnation in it for over a year. It’s better now–I just learned to listen to my body and not my mind!
Personally I think perhaps the instructor should have advised you to listen to your body and go as far as you can at that moment. But that’s just my opinion!:lol:

#3

I was following a kundalini yoga video and was doing a specific movement wherein one stands straight with arms overhead in prayer position, then leans backward, then bends forward, and repeats the movement for a full minute or more, keeping hands in prayer position overhead the whole time. I began to feel a dull ache in my low back, but as it wasn’t really what I’d call painful, I continued and finished the movement and went on to finish the video. Within a few days I began to have low back pain, itching, and discomfort. I had managed to displace or exacerbate a displaced sacrum, and now I must be very careful with any asana I do which involves the twisting of the pelvis in relation to the spine. Luckily I’ve read some excellent articles in Yoga Journal Magazine which have helped me understand my injury as well as know how to recognize ways that I need to modify many different poses.

#4

for me biggest injuries are strain muscles. legs and forearms mostly. usually i do warm bath for injured area and then stick my favorite snogg patch for couple of days. works fine for me
stay safe!

#5

I strained my neck and shoulder muscles last month while doing a sun salutation challenge. I was pushing past my ability. My technique was poor when moving into striking cobra and I was collapsing on my left side because of lack of strength on that side. When doing 2 or 3 sun salutation - no problem…a different story when doing 20+ per day.

#6

Strain muscles in the back a few times… but it is not felt during the practice but later in the daily routine. It has been mainly aggravated because of the lifestyle. I know better my body with the years passing and try to keep in the safe zone and not to be overenthusiastic.
I have rest, regular warm showers, oil massage and I practise proper adaptations of asanas, visualizations, sounds, breathing, meditation thanks to my knowledge of Yoga and Yogatherapy. Then with the days passing, it gets better.

Philippe

#7

A while back I sustained a mysterious injury, lying on my right I cannot raise my left lower leg by an inch. The nerve pain was intense but I cannot pinpoint where is the pain. Had 3 massages (traditional TCM, which normally would work) done over 2 weeks, unfortunately pain got worse after each massage.

After much frustration I decided to rely on myself. Armed with a tennis ball and a book I try to find the trigger points. Pain was temporary lessened during self-massage but would not go away. It was 3 days later my luck came when massaged the areas around left sitting bone, to my greatest delight pain went away totally without a trace!!

I remembered doing 5 strong long-holding chair pose in class a day prior to injury. Looking into anatomy book I realized the chair pose utilizes adductor muscles. It was by my ignorance I had relied on quads & hamstrings to perform the pose. Now I do the chair pose with better awareness, adductors are strengthened thanks to the injury.

#8

I haven’t hurt myself during practice per se, but I believe years of incorrect alignment while practicing contributed to my current injury. I am, like a lot of people, very flexible in my lower back, not very flexible in upper back and have a weak core, which means that for years I did beautiful backbends that overstressed by lower back. Either the teachers did not emphasise the importance of correct alignment enough, or I wasn’t listening, I’m not sure. But two months ago, I hurt myself while picking up a clothes basket (tiniest movement!). About an hour after, my lower back got so sore I couldn’t sit for extended periods, and had to stand up while working! My back is still at times, and when I tried to do the gentlest yoga class recently, the pain returned. Alignment is key!

#9

Well, for me it was more an anatomy issue. Unknown to me, my acromion is thicker than normal. Each time I’d raise my arms over my head impingement would occur at the RTC. Over many years of yoga practice I developed micro tears in the Subscapularis and supraspinatus tendons. Micro tears led to bigger tears. One was a full thickness tear and the other was a partial. Needless to say, I ended up having it repaired. Through PT and yoga I am 100% today. My left shoulder(repaired one) is stronger than my right. Same issues going on in my right, so surgery is likely in my near future. But what helped me the most was Down Dog. After my surgery, the first time during my PT sessions that I was allowed to get into that pose, I felt the my whole back side lengthening, the scapulae moving and heavens it felt great!

So I guess my point is sometimes we are doing poses correctly, but due to anatomy issues (often times unknown to us) those correctly done poses are actually harming us. The only way to find out is unfortunately through injury.

#10

I’ve never hurt myself by doing yoga but boy, the palms of my hands hurt whenever I do Downward Dog. Does anybody else ever have the problem?

#11

I’ve been thinking about this thread for a while and I can’t bring to mind any time I have been hurt doing yoga. I have felt sore the day after a particularly advanced Level 2 Ashtanga class where some secondary series were thrown in (that teacher retired from our studio - too bad), but no injuries.

I have been helped by yoga from another sports injury (whiplash playing rugby with men 25 years younger than me), but that’s not the point of the thread.

#12

I have been hurt many times doe to my:

-extreme flexibility
-stupidity
-bad teachers (push me in to pose)
-my ego

Thanks god, I did not brake anything, but I screw up my knees and hips doing crazy variations of padmasana. Unlimited and improper practice of Surya Namaskar crewed up my shoulders and elbows. Improper practice of nauli and some pranayamas messed up my digestive system for some period of time.

But I was young and I think now I’ve recovered from all these injuries.

[B]Now I can prevent my students from the same mistakes, because nothing teacher us better than personal experience. [/B]

#13

Less than I’ve been hurt NOT practicing “yoga” (though I presume the post refers to asana and not yoga).

#14

[QUOTE=InnerAthlete;59429]Less than I’ve been hurt NOT practicing “yoga” (though I presume the post refers to asana and not yoga).[/QUOTE]
Hahah. Oh Gordon, how I love you so :slight_smile:

For the record, no, it doesn’t refer just to asana.

#15

[QUOTE=David;59444]Hahah. Oh Gordon, how I love you so :slight_smile:

For the record, no, it doesn’t refer just to asana.[/QUOTE]

In that case, I can cite an incident that happened yesterday and today. I went to a meditation class and allowed my negative thoughts to wander in and out, and thought about some unresolved issues in order to find clarity. I couldn’t sleep all night after that, and my heart hurt all day today - as if I were heartbroken, real pain (most of us know what that feels like). I went to the gym to try and work my way out of that pain, but only found some relief when I did some backbends at the end. I still feel uncomfortable, but not as bad. I am off to yoga class in an hour. Hope I can restore balance.

I am still not sure what the hell that was all about.

#16

It sounds to me like you accessed some unresolved emotional issues stored in your body. The key isn’t to try and get rid of or numb them like most of us do (drugs, alcohol, food, exercise, etc), it’s to sit in stillness and try to feel them that much more so they can be integrated. It’s not about figuring it out with the mind, it’s about feeling them.

I personally sit in meditation and breathe in and our without pause as I find that (the pause between breaths) is when my mind wanders. I then practice pratyahara and dharana and feel that emotional charge in all its intensity. When those charges are released is MY current definition of samadhi.

Tis hard, of course.

#17

Hello,

except for once when I slipped on a drop of sweat and overstrechted mentionably (2 days of pain, could hardly walk, but then it was ok and better than before), I had nothing going on. I find it remarkable that many injuries here are somehow related to following the instructions of teachers. I still have not seen a teacher ever and still think that thinking for oneself instead of just trusting a teacher is the best way to do Asanas, particularly when beginning with the practice and getting to know how one’s body works. Using several sources (books, videos) and experimenting a lot, listening to one’s body, getting to know it, and, above all, being smart.

#18

Quote:
Originally Posted by InnerAthlete View Post
Less than I’ve been hurt NOT practicing “yoga” (though I presume the post refers to asana and not yoga).
Hahah. Oh Gordon, how I love you so

For the record, no, it doesn’t refer just to asana.

Oh then I have to add that I’ve suffered far more from not practicing Yoga than from doing asana incorrectly! :slight_smile:

#19

[QUOTE=David;59123]I’m curious if any of you have been hurt while practicing yoga. If so, how and why do you feel the injury occurred?[/QUOTE]

In the beginning “I” hurt my ego, ignorance was the cause, direct experience recognizes it, increased awareness enabled modifications to I ME SELF and “all” benefited.

#20

I think I broke my pinky finger yesterday. I got into an unassisted headstand for the first time and instead of relaxing in the posture my mind said “hey, you’re not supposed be able to do this”. Then I went backwards, twisting my finger. Now I can barely move it - swollen and painful. Ego.