Many New Year’s resolutions involve health. Among the more common ones is to exercise more. So, this time of year can see many people trying new types of exercise. One type some people might include as part of their New Year’s resolutions is yoga.
Yoga has been growing in popularity here in the U.S. over the past several years. It is estimated that the percentage of U.S. adults participating in yoga classes rose from 5 percent in 2007 all the way up to 9.5 percent a mere five years later.
Now, different types of exercise, along with having their own unique potential health benefits, can also carry their own particular types of injury risks. How common are significant injuries in yoga?
Statistics indicates that yoga injuries that need emergency room care are relatively rare here in America. A recent study indicated that there were only around 30,000 U.S. ER visits related to yoga injuries between 2001 and 2014. Many of these injuries involved muscle strains or sprained joints.
However, the study also points to the ER-treated injury rate in yoga having increased here in the U.S. in around the past decade and a half. Specifically, it found that, between 2001 and 2014, this rate increased from 9.5 injuries per 100,000 yoga participants to 17 injuries per 100,000 participants.
Why do you think this rate has increased? What do you think would most help in reversing this trend?
One hopes that all businesses involved in making yoga products, providing yoga instruction or providing space for yoga take appropriate steps to help with preventing injuries among yoga participants.
Now, injuries suffered while performing yoga are not the only injuries that could come up in connection to this type of exercise. Injuries could also occur while exiting, entering or walking around the gym or studio where one is taking yoga if the gym/studio has allowed dangerous tripping or slipping hazards to come up on their property. So, in addition to trying to keep the actual performance of yoga safe, it can also be very important for gyms and studios that provide yoga classes to keep their premises safe.
Skilled attorneys can help answer questions individuals who have been hurt while at a yoga studio or gym have about whether there are any legal remedies they could pursue.
Source: HealthDay, “Serious Yoga Injuries, Though Rare, Are on the Rise,” Amy Norton, Dec. 22, 2016
