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| Sally Halbett by Melina Meza |
It turns out that Baxter, Timothy, Brad, and I weren’t the only ones who were seriously skeptical about the claims that New York Times writer William Broad made about the dangers of yoga (suspiciously timed with the releases first of the hardback and then of the paperback versions of his book about yoga). I’ve just learned from Yoga Is Just As Safe As Other Exercise, Study Finds that Dr. Holger Cramer, director of yoga research at the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany, read Broad’s article “How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body,” and concluded that it “reported on some cases, but it was not systematical.” And since no meta-analysis—a systematic review of other studies—yet existed on yoga injuries, Cramer decided to do one himself. Thank you, Dr. Cramer!
And guess what? Dr. Cramer’s completed study The Safety of Yoga: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, found that yoga was just as safe as other forms of exercise.
“No differences in the frequency of intervention-related, nonserious, or serious adverse events and of dropouts due to adverse events were found when comparing yoga with usual care or exercise.”
Yes, that’s basically what we’ve been saying all along (see Man Bites Downward-Facing Dog, Is Yoga Really Dangerous for Men?, and Is Women's Flexibility a Liability in Yoga?, among other posts responding to William Broad's claims). No, yoga is not perfect. And, yes, you can injure yourself while doing it, so it’s wise to use common sense when you are taking a class or you’re practicing on your own (see How to Stay Safe While Practicing Yoga). But you can also get injured running, walking, playing tennis, biking, lifting weights, gardening, etc. And even being sedentary has its dangers. How many people do we know who got injured just sitting at their desks or developed serious health conditions due to lack of exercise?
We’re pretty sure that Broad didn’t do a methodical study of any kind (he’s a journalist, not a scientist). On the other hand, according to Yoga Is Just As Safe As Other Exercise, Study Finds, Dr. 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.
Only 2% of people who did yoga experienced any adverse events, and some of those who did already had severe diseases. The study didn’t look at the types of injuries, but other data suggests that the most common kinds of injuries are musculoskeletal, like back pain, Cramer says. Other adverse events include aggravation of glaucoma in patients with the disease, especially in headstand or shoulder stand poses.”
No surprises there. We know that people can get musculoskeletal injuries from pushing themselves too hard in a pose or from practicing the same poses over and over (see Not All Yoga Poses Are Created Equal and Getting Clearer on Yoga and the Risk of Injury). And we always caution people with glaucoma and certain other conditions about practicing inversions like Headstand and Shoulderstand (see Friday Q&A: Cautions for Inversions). But Dr. Cramer also confirmed what we’ve observed—both about ourselves and our students—that while serious yoga injuries are rare, benefits from the practice are much more common:
“We have really high-quality studies showing that yoga is effective for chronic low back pain in the short and long term,” he says. Other good evidence shows that yoga can ease depression and psychological distress in breast cancer patients, he says, and that yoga may be effective in lowering high blood pressure in people with hypertension and reducing cardiovascular disease risk factors in the general population and people at high risk.”
When I told Brad about this new study and its conclusions, he simply said, “No sh*t.”
“No differences in the frequency of intervention-related, nonserious, or serious adverse events and of dropouts due to adverse events were found when comparing yoga with usual care or exercise.”
Yes, that’s basically what we’ve been saying all along (see Man Bites Downward-Facing Dog, Is Yoga Really Dangerous for Men?, and Is Women's Flexibility a Liability in Yoga?, among other posts responding to William Broad's claims). No, yoga is not perfect. And, yes, you can injure yourself while doing it, so it’s wise to use common sense when you are taking a class or you’re practicing on your own (see How to Stay Safe While Practicing Yoga). But you can also get injured running, walking, playing tennis, biking, lifting weights, gardening, etc. And even being sedentary has its dangers. How many people do we know who got injured just sitting at their desks or developed serious health conditions due to lack of exercise?
We’re pretty sure that Broad didn’t do a methodical study of any kind (he’s a journalist, not a scientist). On the other hand, according to Yoga Is Just As Safe As Other Exercise, Study Finds, Dr. 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.
Only 2% of people who did yoga experienced any adverse events, and some of those who did already had severe diseases. The study didn’t look at the types of injuries, but other data suggests that the most common kinds of injuries are musculoskeletal, like back pain, Cramer says. Other adverse events include aggravation of glaucoma in patients with the disease, especially in headstand or shoulder stand poses.”
No surprises there. We know that people can get musculoskeletal injuries from pushing themselves too hard in a pose or from practicing the same poses over and over (see Not All Yoga Poses Are Created Equal and Getting Clearer on Yoga and the Risk of Injury). And we always caution people with glaucoma and certain other conditions about practicing inversions like Headstand and Shoulderstand (see Friday Q&A: Cautions for Inversions). But Dr. Cramer also confirmed what we’ve observed—both about ourselves and our students—that while serious yoga injuries are rare, benefits from the practice are much more common:
“We have really high-quality studies showing that yoga is effective for chronic low back pain in the short and long term,” he says. Other good evidence shows that yoga can ease depression and psychological distress in breast cancer patients, he says, and that yoga may be effective in lowering high blood pressure in people with hypertension and reducing cardiovascular disease risk factors in the general population and people at high risk.”
When I told Brad about this new study and its conclusions, he simply said, “No sh*t.”
Happy practicing!
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