As I write this blog I am recovering from an injury. No, it wasn’t from doing yoga. No, it wasn’t from doing something dangerous. How did I injure myself? Well, I injured myself just swinging my leg behind to get off my bike. Silly, right? To be fair, I had just put a rear pack over the back wheel so I wasn’t expecting to have to lift my leg up so much higher behind me. Anyway, I’ll be off my mat for a few days and definitely taking it easy until I recover.

In the meantime I began to wonder about the average age and rates injuries occur as we age. Specifically, how common yoga injuries are once we are in our 50’s.

What I found kind of surprised me. It wasn’t the amount of injuries, it was the lack of current information out there. I could only find one study from paper written in 2015 on stats ranging from 2001 - 2014. But, even in a paper written more than 10 years ago it was very eye opening.

The report published from National Library of Medicine in November 2016; Yoga-Related Injuries in the United States from 2001-2014 took data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System. Stats were pulled about yoga specific injuries. Keep in mind this data comes from ER visits and the patients self-reporting how the injury occurred. The stats below could be a lot higher if it were possible to add physician appointments as well.

The breakdown of ages were as follows: 18-44, 45-65, 65 and above.

The highest age bracket for injury was 65 and above: 57.9/100,000.

Second age bracket was 45-65: 17.7/100/100,000

Age bracket with lowest yoga related injury rate was 18-44: 11.9/100,000

Of all these injuries (all age brackets) the area of the body with the highest rate of injury the trunk at 46.6% and a sprain/strain was the the diagnosis 45% of the time.

Over all these stats don’t seem to be huge at all. However the number of yoga students, yoga teachers and yoga studios 10 years ago wasn’t as big as it is today. When NCIB pulled the data starting in 2001 the rates of injury were lower and each year they found an increased rate in injury with the biggest jump in 65 and above.

As an aging person myself who practices yoga, lifts weights, walks and rides my bike know the temptation of pushing myself like I was still in my 20’s. I haven’t ever injured myself while doing yoga, but I have stepped on the mat with acute injuries and worked around them while doing my asanas.

As a yoga teacher I want to make sure to help students of all levels listen to what their body is telling them. It’s my job to check on the students in front of me and adjust my cues, poses and even the speed of the flow. But, no matter how perfect my instructions I have no control over who is going to push themselves past their limits or even step wrong and hurt themselves.

Why do yoga students get injured in the first place? Some will say it’s ego, competition or comparison with others in the class. Sure, there is that. But, who could blame these students? Especially, if you can’t hear the teacher, you don’t understand the cues, you’re new to yoga or the studio or the pose name is not something you’ve heard before.

Excusing yoga injuries down to the student’s ego or the teacher’s inexperience is not fair. The bottom line is as we age our muscles, bones, strength, endurance, hearing, balance and equilibrium all change. Aging yoga practitioners aren’t fragile and they won’t shatter but there are a few simple adjustments to have in the toolbox that can make the time on the mat more productive.

1 Slow Down

Yeah, even if you’re in a fast flowing vinyasa class. There is no yoga law that says you have to keep up with every single vinyasa pose. Transition to every other pose. If you are able to do that you’ll still get a wonderful practice in. If the studio or yoga teacher nags you about it then maybe check out other locations.

2 Make Your Standing Poses Compensate for Balance

For instance, when going into a warrior I don’t make the back arch of your foot line up with the front heel. Step the back foot a little more out to the side. Also, don’t take such a huge step back. These two modifications will help your equilibrium and balance. Trust me, the yoga teacher is not going to write you a yoga ticket for breaking some sort of yoga law if you make this minor modification.

3 Use All the Props - Even the Wall

I have a private student who is 87 and she is able to use the wall for all her standing balance poses. The wall is your friend. If you want to continue your practice well into your 80’s and beyond, props are going to help you do that.

4 Don’t Try and Do ALL the Things

I really, really want to do a wheel pose and full headstand one day. Will I ever get there if I’m already 51? I don’t know. What I do know is that I can do modifications and drills instead.

5 Over Repetition Is Not Your Friend

Thinking you have to do a certain number of sun salutations a day in order to call it a yoga practice is going to end up causing Repetitive Strain Injuries. Doing the similar flow from day to day is good and helpful for the cognitive growth. But when you are doing increasingly more of the same difficult pose each day that’s where the strain injury can start.

6 Work On Your Ankle and Feet Strength

As you age the ankles and feet are so important to keep healthy. Work on supported malasana (yogi squats) with a blanket under the heels and a block under the glutes and work your way to eventually no supports. Work on curling, flexing, and spreading your toes. When your in cat cow, tuck your toes and spread them then release and curl them. When you’re in mountain, focus on spreading those toes, pushing down into the big toe mound and pinky toe mound on the sole of the feet as well as the outer and inner heals of the feet.

7 Protect Your Joints

I'm not referring to the outdated instruction to "never bring your knee past your foot" or "never place the sole of your foot on the inside of your knee in tree". I'm referring to locking joints out. Make sure you’re not locking out those knees, elbow and such. Activate the muscles around those joints and make the muscles do the work. Triangle pose is probably the most difficult. Even I have to make sure I’m not locking my front knee out.

I share these tips not to scare you into thinking that yoga is going to harm you or cause you injuries. As humans we can push ourselves without realizing what we are doing is not great for us. You aren’t going to break or shatter but you also don’t need to push yourself so far that you never step on the mat again.