Is Taking Yoga Classes Safe?
(This article really speaks to an issue greater than Yoga. It reflects upon social need to take responsibility for one’s own decisions, not only in exercise, but also in all areas of life; health, spirituality, finances and so forth.
This article makes the point that Yoga, despite one article to the contrary in the New York Times of 2012, is as safe and valuable as any other form of exercise. Yes, of course it is. The real issue is how one approached Yoga from the get go. Where they seek instructions from and how they support its evolution as a lifestyle change by monitoring their progress.
Do I know of people who have hurt parts of their body doing Yoga. You bet! Do I know people who have hurt themselves using alternative or complimentary medicine. Of course. But equally and perhaps even more pernicious are those tales of woe from people who have taken to pharmaceutical drugs and not done their research, handing over responsibility to a doctor or pharmaceutical mouthpiece such as the FDA.
Every area of life requires us to take responsibility and, Yoga as a form of exercise is no different. It is precisely because we fail to do this that many are the agencies which spring up to do it for us, and in so doing propagate the presence of legal battles in their wake. Time out. Let’s first and foremost remember who and what we are as fully conscious beings. Then, and only then do all these sideshows disappear. Enjoy the article. Nigel)
If you’ve ever searched for an excuse not to do yoga, you likely have one article at the ready: “How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body,” published by the New York Times in 2012. After reading descriptions of injuries like torn Achilles tendons, degenerated hip sockets and sudden stroke, you’d be inclined to think swearing off yoga was the healthier choice.
But is it? Dr. Holger Cramer, director of yoga research at the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany, points out that the article “reported on some cases, but it was not systematical,” he says. But since no meta-analysis—a systematic review of other studies—yet existed on yoga injuries, Cramer decided to do one himself. His new study, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, found that yoga was just as safe as exercise
For his analysis, Cramer looked only at randomized controlled trials—considered the highest quality clinical trial. Studies qualified if they compared any kind of yoga with no treatment, usual care or an active treatment, and if they reported on adverse events like injuries. In the end, 94 studies—which looked at a total of 8,430 people—made the cut.
“The risk of getting injured or experiencing other adverse events is the same in yoga as with other exercise,” Cramer says. Is Taking Yoga Classes Safe?