lstipp

Hi Rw

It’s very odd that the very morning that you posted – before I read your post – I was doing yoga and wondering just that. How is that people can damage themselves in a yoga class? What pain are they ‘pushing through’ in the name of ‘becoming more flexible’? What signs are they ignoring in order to go beyond their own flexibility and cause permanent damage?

We are all naturally flexible enough to do many things, but bony limitations such as the structure of one’s hips may be (and for many definitely is) a limiting factor. What is the thought behind feeling a need to break through that?

Gabrielle,
After a google search on labral tears and yoga, I found this thread. After reading the comment I quoted above, I felt compelled to join the forum and comment.

I have not practiced yoga for several years, because of a labral tear in my left hip that was caused by continuously trying to open my very tight hips via yoga poses. As it turns out, my hips weren’t tight. I have some kind of hip dysplasia that I was unaware of. While I thought I was stretching very tight muscles and tendons, I was really forcing an impingement. Eventually, I had a tear. I stopped doing vigorous yoga (like hot yoga) because so many seemingly simple poses (even child’s pose) are painful to me. Fortunately, I have been able to continue doing exercises that don’t externally rotate the joint, so I can hike and even do some crossfit. I am currently trying to find a restorative yoga class, just for my mental health and to try to keep the rest of my body flexible.

What made me want to comment was your question about what would motivate someone to push so hard that they would cause physical damage? That’s easy. I never knew anything different. The tilt of my hip joints, and the resulting inability of my hips to release is congenital. It ALWAYS felt extremely tight and uncomfortable. I never experienced anything else. I thought that must be normal. In all the years I took yoga classes (many), I was told over and over that if you just relax, push, cajole, use heat, use props, etc., eventually your hips will magically open. So I kept striving, and eventually ripped my labrum. Silly me for not realizing that would never happen for me. However, I do wish that more yoga instructors would recognize that when a pose isn’t happening for someone, there might be another underlying reason than just that they are tight.

It reminds me a little of some joking advice my mom used to give us as kids. When we would complain to her “Mom, it hurts when I do this”, her response would be “Well, then stop doing that.” We’re all built differently.

Anyway, my intent here is not to sow negativity. Since you are a yoga professional, I thought maybe it would be useful for you to understand what might be going through the head of a practitioner who is pushing through pain to the point of injury.

In health,
Lori