Yoga students risk serious injuries

YOGA students who push themselves too far without proper supervision risk suffering painful injuries and strains.

The Irish Yoga Federation (IYF) said the increase in the popularity of power yoga has prompted some students to force themselves into difficult positions without proper preparation.

The craze for Ashtanga yoga, or power yoga, is being driven by images of lithe devotees such as Madonna and Geri Halliwell, often in gravity-defying postures.

However, those taking up Ashtanga yoga need a certain level of fitness and flexibility and should seek a fully-qualified teacher, Chetan Murti of the IYF said.

Mr Murti, co-director of the Galway Yoga Centre, said yoga teachers were in talks with the Department of Health in a bid to clamp down on organisations running one and two-month training courses for yoga teachers.

Yoga teachers need to learn about anatomy and physiology, he said.

“We are in the process of talking to the Minister for Health trying to regulate the alternative health market. We are looking for a minimum of two years’ training for yoga teachers.

“Many people out there are just taking crash courses and I wouldn’t like to be in their classes,” he said.

Only those who have practiced yoga for at least four years are considered for the Galway Yoga Centre’s two-year training course, he said.

He was speaking after the IYF’s British counterpart, the British Wheel of Yoga (BWY) warned that only 50% of the estimated 10,000 people teaching yoga in Britain were properly qualified.

Doctors and physiotherapists are reporting an upsurge in the number of inexperienced students getting injuries after straining to get into difficult positions.

The most common yoga injuries are caused by repetitive strain or overstretching and occur on the wrists, shoulders, neck, along the spine, and at the sacroiliac joint, which links the spinal column and pelvis, hamstrings, and knees.

BWY spokeswoman Jayne Hill said yoga was perfectly safe if taught properly by people who understand it, and have experience.

“However, we are concerned that not all teachers are qualified, and that some people may be trying to cash in on the popularity of yoga,” she said.

Keith Waldon, vice chair of the Society of Sports Therapists in Britain, believes yoga should be tightly regulated.

“A lot of people take up yoga thinking it is a gentle activity that will not cause them any harm, but that is not necessarily the case,” he said.