Yoga teachers 'risking serious hip problems'

[nitpicker]

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-50181155

Yoga teachers 'risking serious hip problems'

By Caroline Parkinson
Health editor, BBC News website

3 November 2019
Yoga's popularity does not look like it will wane any time soon. Its physical benefits for flexibility and balance, as well as its spiritual connection, mean it's practised by millions across the world. And that means a need for more and more yoga teachers.

But now, there is a warning they may be putting their own hip health at risk.

Benoy Matthews, a leading UK-based physiotherapist, warns he is seeing increasing numbers of yoga teachers with serious hip problems - many of whom require surgery - because they are pushing their bodies too hard.

Mr Matthews, a specialist hip and knee physiotherapist and member of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapists, says he sees four to five yoga teachers a month.

He says the problem lies in people repeatedly pushing their bodies into "prescribed" positions, when their physiology prevents it.

About half of the teachers he sees simply need advice on how to moderate the "prescribed" yoga positions, so as not to put too much stress on their joints.

But those with more advanced problems need medical treatment and surgery - including total hip replacements.
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He says it can be easy for yoga practitioners to mistake joint pain, which means they should stop the movement, for stiffness, which they should push through.
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Mr Matthews says the problem often boils down to how a person's hips are formed and how flexible they are.
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Mr Matthews says the amount of yoga teachers do, as well as the fact they might not be doing any other kind of exercise, can explain the problems that develop.
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Mr Matthews suggests new yoga teachers should be assessed. "You could see what mobility they have and what their body is allowing them to do," he says.
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