Personal practice notes: this week (or, month) I have been mostly… practicing yoga with an injury. Here’s what you should consider if you’re doing this too.
To practice or not to practice, that is the question when you have an injury.
On the one hand, yoga might be pretty far down your list as all the pain, extra work and inconvenience you have to manage with an injury might just leave you wanting to curl up on the sofa.
On the other, particularly with soft tissue injury, your doctor or physio might have suggested that keeping moving and doing “gentle” exercise like yoga asana is a great idea to support your general strength and fitness level whilst injured.
So here is my guide to if, when and how you might practice yoga whilst injured and in recovery.
Should I practice yoga whilst injured?
All yoga teachers will tell you to stay home from class if your doctor or medical specialist has told you not to practice yoga or take part in physical activity.
If you’re not sure, always ask your doctor, or your physio if you’re under their supervision for rehab.
Some injuries require very specific rehab and “yoga” is too general a description (I mean, it can mean a lot of different things when it comes to practices and styles) so be sure to ask about the type of class you’d be doing if you can.
There are some grey areas even then, as certain people may be more prone to injury or re-injury through yoga. Case in point being hypermobile me; more than one physio has expressed concern at me practicing yoga as injury rehab (although my counter is that my hypermobility injuries have occurred whilst doing really mundane stuff and not yoga) but they have also understood how beneficial it can be when practiced with mindfulness and care.
So if your doctor, specialist and or physio have given you the green light, you should also consider whether you’d feel confident about working with your injured body in the yoga class, letting the teacher know about your issue, adapting postures that don’t work for you and sitting some out entirely. If you’d prefer to wait until you don’t have to think about these things, that’s totally understandable and it will be best to return to yoga once you’ve recovered enough to take part as usual, rather than practicing with your injury.
It kind of goes without saying, but if you do practice whilst injured, you will need to dial down the regularity and intensity of the practices as your body will need the extra rest and energy to heal.
What yoga should I practice whilst injured?
Really, that’s up to you and the nature of your injury.
Have a good think about the types of work or movements that you’re struggling with whilst injured.
If you can’t sit well cross legged or get up from the floor, most yoga classes will be off limits (unless you're really very comfortable independently adjusting your own props in class) but you may still be able to practice meditation as most meditation classes/ centres offer chairs. If you’re struggling with breath or deep inhalations, classes with a lot of pranayama and chanting will be difficult. If you have a shoulder issue and can’t press through your outstretched arm into downwards dog then Ashtanga or vinyasa flow won’t work out well, but a hatha class may offer more options and yin yoga will almost never ask for this type of movement.
If in doubt, contact the teacher ahead of time and find out if they can accommodate you.
Practice what feels OK and don’t push yourself.
How should I practice yoga whilst injured?
At the risk of stating the obvious, with care!
In yin yoga particularly, we think about using the “edge of comfort”, and when you’re injured you are likely to be pushing that edge of comfort during any type of practice.
Listen to and respect your body. It’s your most amazing vehicle for navigating this crazy 3D reality, look after it! Even though you’ll be experiencing a lot of sensation when practicing yoga with an injury, if something doesn’t seem right, is too intense, uncomfortable or painful, gently back off or stop doing it entirely. Yoga is not an endurance event, you don’t need to do everything in a given class.
You may have enough yoga experience to be comfortable safely adapting poses and practices to work around your injury. If so, be sure to tell the teacher that’s what you’re doing (or they might get really confused!). If not, ask the teacher if they can offer options and alternatives for the poses you may struggle with, and definitely make sure you’re comfortable with sitting something out entirely if it’s just not working for you (savasana is always an option! Or I’d say child’s pose, except currently I can’t do child’s pose 🤦🏼♀️).
You can also use props in different ways to support your practice with an injury. Blocks, rolled blankets and yoga straps are good to give extra height, cushioning or to take off some of the strain from a pose. A yoga bolster is particularly useful for positions in which injured hips, knees or backs need extra support, solidness and grounding. With careful experimentation, props can make a massive difference to your yoga practice whilst you’re injured.
Private 1-1 yoga is a reasonable option whilst practicing with or in recovery from an injury as you can give the teacher immediate feedback about how things are feeling and they can adapt the practice to your needs. It's still important to choose a teacher with whom you have a good rapport and you know will listen to and understand you, so that you can practice safely.
Should I practice online yoga whilst injured?
This is a tricky question as without a live yoga teacher to guide you and offer specific options, you are entirely on your own in regards to whether the practice is suitable for you or not.
There are some injury-specific classes out there, although there is no guarantee that they’ll be right for your body, they might be worth looking at if your doctor or physio agrees.
With online yoga, be sure to choose a style of practice that is least likely to cause problems with your injury, listen to your body and don’t push yourself. If in doubt, don’t use recorded online classes.
You can also work with a live teacher online, although in an online class you will find many of the same issues as a recorded class (teachers often can’t see a lot of what you’re doing during an online class).
Online 1-1s and small group classes are definitely the best option here as you can get tailored support around your practice needs.
Practicing Yoga with an Injury
There are pros and cons to doing it, but on the whole you can usually still practice some kind of yoga if it's safe and comfortable to do so.
I'm still practicing almost daily- as I am a yoga teacher I know how important my personal practice is to being able to deliver a decent yoga class- but my current practice looks and feels quite different to how it might without the knee injury.
It's not all grit and determination however; it's given me a few new perspectives and ideas in terms of how to practice. It's also teaching me patience (goodness knows I need that) and an appreciation for the incredible healing power of my body, as I feel the progress daily.
Have you practiced yoga with an injury? How did you support yourself to do so safely, or would you recommend avoiding it entirely? Let me know in the comments section below.
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