Study reveals alarming side effects of yoga
Yoga has long been touted as an alternative to high impact exercise, but research from the University of Sydney suggests it’s more dangerous than we previously thought.
The study found yoga to cause intense musculoskeletal pain in over 10 per cent of participants, and was found to exacerbate 21 per cent of existing injuries.
The study’s lead researcher, Associate Professor Evangelos Pappas, says the risk of pain caused by yoga-related movements is much higher than previously reported.
Pappas said, “Yoga may be a bit more dangerous than previously thought. Our study found that the incidence of pain caused by yoga is more than 10 per cent per year, which is comparable to the rate of all sports injuries combined among the physically active population.”
The study examined 350 people who regularly attended yoga classes.
It wasn’t all bad news however, as the study did find that 74 per cent of respondents reported that they felt yoga relieved pain in the lower back and the neck.
Pappas added, “These findings can be useful for clinicians and individuals to compare the risks of yoga to other exercise, enabling them to make informed decisions about which types of activity are best.”
Do you practice yoga? What do you make of the research?