Last updated on August 23rd, 2023.
Yoga is often seen as a philosophy and as a workout for those who want to focus on toning and relaxing, however, it can also be used to prevent injuries and heal current injuries without needing therapy. Now, this is only recommended after talking with your doctor and when it’s done correctly.
The specific type of injuries yoga can help with are:
- Back Muscle Injury
- Joint Injury
- Chemotherapy side-effects
- Chronic stress-related diseases
- Recurring injuries due to muscle-tightness
- Misalignment
- Gaining use back in joints
Now while yoga is not always a replacement for physical therapy, allowing movement, no matter how minimal, during the healing process can reduce the long-term effects of the injury and help prevent another one from happening.
Can Yoga Reduce Injuries?
While yoga can’t particularly heal injuries, it can help to fix certain variables that contribute to an injury taking longer to heal. Yoga can do several things for your body that allow healing to happen faster and more efficiently.
Yoga can help and replace things such as:
- Cortisol levels to help reduce inflammation
- Posture to help reduce injuries
- Lengthens Muscle Tissues
- Be used in place of Physical therapy for pain management
What Injuries Can Yoga Help With?
Yoga can help with any injuries that deal with muscles, joints, or alignment, which is almost every type of injury since our bodies are so connected. No matter what you injure, chances are you will affect a muscle, joint, or alignment at some point, so yoga can help almost anything.
7 Injuries Yoga Can Help With
Yoga’s biggest benefit is stretching the muscles and helping them to be longer, which can help with a number of injuries since injuries often result in tighter muscles and muscle pain. If you are trying Hot Yoga, remember taking care of your skin after. Yoga can also help lower cortisol and inflammation which allows your body to better fix the issue rather than just fixing the inflammation.
There is a “use it or lose it” theory that states if you don’t use parts of your body, or if you choose to favor a part of your body, that part won’t be as strong, or heal back as well as another part of your body.
1. Back Muscle Injury
No matter what kind of muscle injury you may have in your back, yoga can help get you back to full use when done correctly. The stretching poses that yoga uses can help push those muscles to become longer and more flexible, therefore allowing you more movement and use which will coax your body into fixing the injury.
Even if you have another kind of back injury, there is a very good chance that your doctor may recommend yoga after a certain healing period to help regain the use of your muscles.
2. Joint Injury
Now, joint injuries are frustrating because they swell up so bad, and the muscles around them often tighten up so much it’s hard to use the joints in small amounts. However, certain yoga poses that focus on stretching the place of injury can help regain full use quicker than just letting it heal without any other therapy.
Stretching the muscles can reduce inflammation and speed up the healing process since your body will heal something faster if you use it rather than letting it slowly heal when you aren’t using it.
3. Chemotherapy Side Effects
CHemotherapy, while it has fantastic benefits and great intentions, can deal with some catastrophic side effects such as:
- Fatigue – in some cases enough to cause muscle atrophy
- Anemia
- Infection
- Weak muscles
Now, with all of these side effects, there is an increased chance for injury, or simply muscle atrophy which will cause a struggle when trying to heal and get back to a previous point of activity.
Consistently involving yourself in yoga throughout chemotherapy and after the fact will help to reduce the chances of injury and reduce side effects such as muscle atrophy and weak muscles.
4. Chronic Stress-Related Diseases
Since yoga helps to reduce cortisol levels, the chemical related to stress, any stress-related injuries or diseases can be improved by regularly doing yoga. Yoga can help reduce the effects of things such as:
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Heart Issues related to stress
- Blood pressure
- Tension Headaches
- Sleep disorders
Lowering cortisol can improve these issues and in some cases, completely dissolve them. You can also lose weight by doing yoga and helping to lower your cortisol too.
5. Recurring Injuries Due to Muscle Tightness
If you’ve hurt something once, you are more likely to hurt the same part of your body again. If your muscles are consistently tight around the previously hurt area there is an even greater chance you will hurt it again. So, yoga can help to reduce muscle tightness and reduce the chance of you injuring your body again.
6. Misalignment Injuries
Misalignment is slowly becoming seen as a huge reason for many issues. If your joints, spine, and bones are not aligned with the rest of your body as they should be, you are at a higher risk for injury. Yoga, when done with the correct posture and regularity, can help to align your joints and spine over time so as to reduce the chance of any injuries.
If you already have an injury due to misalignment, yoga will help to heal it while also preventing any more injuries.
7. Gaining Use Back In Joints
Any joint issues can be frustrating when you lose the ability to use them. This is usually due to tight muscles or ligaments after the injury and yoga can help to stretch all of this out and help you gain use back.
Final Thoughts
Yoga is often seen as a stress reliever or a relaxing workout, but more often than not it can be used as a type of physical therapy, healing, or prevention from injuries. Now, these benefits will only work when yoga is done correctly and when approval from a doctor is given since too much movement too early can cause more damage.
