Tips For Preventing Common Yoga Injuries

Yoga can be a great workout, and you can even complete your yoga sessions at home instead of going to an expensive gym. The good news is that you can excel at yoga, even if you are not flexible. However, if you are not that athletic, then you may find it difficult to avoid injuries. Injuries are common with yoga, but you can keep some of the more common ones at bay with a few simple tricks. 

Wrist Injuries 

There are a wide variety of yoga positions that involve the placement of your hands either in front of or behind your body. These positions will often require you to place a good deal of weight on your wrists, and if you are not careful, you can overextend them. This can result in the stretching of the tendons and ligaments in the region, and you may even experience a sprain.

To avoid tissue damage and strain problems, place your hand wide on the floor and keep your fingers spread. Do not put all of your weight on your wrists at one time. Start slowly and gently roll your body onto your wrists. If you feel your wrists stretching too much and creating pain, then stop the yoga pose. If you continue to feel discomfort, then consider exercising your risks to strengthen them. You can do this through the use of hand weights. Place the weight in your hand and curl it up towards your body. 

Rotator Cuff Injuries

Shoulder injuries, like ones involving the rotator cuff, are common when individuals start yoga. Most injuries occur due to the position of the shoulders, and many people keep them in a shrugged or forward position. For example, when you complete a forward-facing dog, you will naturally move your shoulders towards your ears and compress them a bit. 

Shrugged and compressed shoulders are often used to retain a lot of the weight and stress of your body. This weight can cause injuries, especially since many yoga poses are meant to work out the muscles in the arms.  Avoid injuries by keeping your shoulders back at all times. Also, you want to minimize exercises that cause the shoulders to stretch and pull too much. 

Be aware of how your arm muscles feel when you exercise too. If your arms muscles are in a resting state during the routine, then this probably means that you are probably not using them enough and you need to give your shoulders a break. If you want to know more about yoga and the proper techniques that are needed to complete the exercise properly, speak with an exercise professional. 


Share