Here’s what to watch out for and what not to do when starting yoga

Yoga is a great healer and contributor to improving strength, flexibility and endurance, but wrong poses can make your daily life difficult instead of better, say health experts.

It is advisable that till you attain a degree of expertise in yoga, you practise yogic asanas under the supervision of a certified yoga instructor. Minakshi Fullara, chief consultant, physiotherapy, Aakash Healthcare, says overdoing yoga or doing it in the wrong manner can lead to acute injuries, chronic pain, overuse strain and hamstring pull.

Certain asanas of yoga like Paschimottanasana involves direct bending of spine in seated or long-standing position without bending of knees. This in turn puts direct load on spine giving it “C” shape and could create tension on ligaments and joint stability leading to severe disc prolapses and hip joint disorders.

So, always consider postural alignment, biomechanical stresses on joints and soft tissues and functional anatomical position while practising any yogic asana.

Wrist injuries are the other most common things to happen when certain posture of yoga demand support from wrist. Rotator cuff injuries are common to occur if biomechanical alignment is not appropriate while practising body weight on arms, resulting in excessive strain on rotator cuff muscles and thus, affecting shoulder dynamics.

To avoid these injuries, get yourself assessed thoroughly by a physiotherapist for your flexibility, core strength, joint mobility. Make sure you learn the asana properly before practising it unsupervised. Listen to your body if performing a certain asana causes pain or stress, and avoid it.

Yoga expert Deepak Jha has also pointed out a few health problems that you might face if you are performing certain yoga poses incorrectly:

* Backaches and slip disc: Yoga poses like Bharadvajasana, Bitilasana, Marjaryasana and many other yoga poses help you ease your back pain and back problems. If done incorrectly, it can create the reverse effect.

* Ankle sprain: Yoga poses like Ardha Chandrasana, Malasana and Supta Virasana put pressure on your ankles. If done in an incorrect manner, they can cause severe injuries to your ankles.

* Stiff neck, sprain and pain in neck: Yoga asanas like Setu Bandha, Sarvangasana, Matsyasana, Eka Pada Rajakapotasana II and Kapotasana require involvement of neck. These poses require you to bend and twist your neck and if you make a mistake while practising these, you can suffer from a stiff neck and sprain.

* Muscle pull: Your muscle can get pulled in most of the yoga poses if your body is not flexible enough.