Has Yoga got side effects?

A recently retired schoolteacher suddenly felt very lonely. He had nothing particular to do. Bored, he started thinking about his health, and got his cholesterol levels, blood sugar and pressure checked up, and shockingly found everything in disorder.

Decided not to try medication, he opted for Yoga and started practicing under a guru. One morning home, sitting in the mat he tried ‘lotus pose’, one in which Yogis would meditate.

He dragged one leg on the other, and moved it up on his thigh close to the hip and pulled the other leg too and strained to bring it up on the other thigh. Suddenly something snapped inside.

A bone gave way.

People took him to hospital in the same “lotus-pose”. Doctors had difficulty releasing his crooked legs. There ended his yogic life too.

Small wonder, he broke his bone.

Lotus pose is not an easy one. One requires good physical flexibility to practice it. Of course, good heath too. Just as yoga has become greatly popular, anybody with a few hours background in Yoga is a teacher, now. They set up Yoga shops.

Although some universities offer PG level courses in Yoga, only a few become professional yoga teachers.

Most yoga teachers, who run yoga shops in the street, are ill-equipped, because they don’t know human anatomy as much as a 10th grader knows.

These amateur teachers could bring ill reputation to Yoga.

India’s major contribution to the health and healing now faces some setbacks.

Health experts find side effects to it. Side effects are usually the injuries, both silly and fatal, that many practitioners don’t give a damn about. Small injuries include spraining of neck or a spasm. They go ahead practice.

The point is we practice yoga for super health, and we don’t want to go for treatment to heal injuries from yoga. Studies now see glaring gap in tall claims, especially, when it comes to injuries.

Noted science journal, Plos One ran a research study on the safety of Yoga on Oct. 16, 2013. It is a bit old. Since we have no new study to question it, it is still relevant. The study---- done at University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany, Duke University, among others--- considered safety of Yoga.

There were some 76 cases of yoga-linked injuries or adverse events. Injuries mainly affected three areas: musculoskeletal, nervous, or visual system.

“More than half of the cases for which clinical outcomes were reported reached full recovery, one case did not recover at all, and one case died,” the study said.

Of its different poses, “Shirsasana” or headstand found behind the most injuries, and “Pranayama” found to have adverse effects.

Of some 27 cases of adverse events, (35.5%) affected the musculoskeletal system, 14 (18.4%) the nervous system; and 9 (11.8%) the eyes. Fifteen cases (19.7%) reached full recovery, nine cases (11.3%) partial recovery and in one case (1.3%) there was no recovery. In one case (1.3 %), the person had died.

However, the report didn’t question the healing touch of yoga. Studies already have proved that it could fortify the body, bring in lots of oxygen, steady the nerves, and boost cardiovascular health.

Earlier in 2012 New York Times ran an article by William J Broad titled, “How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body”. The author narrates how he broke his back doing “the extended-side-angle pose” and then described his meeting with New York based well known Yoga teacher, Glenn Black. A "B.K.S Iyengar" product from Pune, India, he ran “Sankalpah Yoga” at Manhattan in New York and had a clientele including celebrities. Later Glenn Black developed “spinal stenosis” that left his spinal nerves compressed, causing unimaginable pain. Close to losing his mobility, he went in for surgery that lasted five hours. Glenn Black, according to the writer, practiced yoga carefully---still he got injured.

Leading medical journals like Neurology, The British Medical Journal and The Journal of American Medical Association reported yoga injuries decades ago.

Some people complained of spasm, sprain and unresponsive nerves. One reported injury came from over-doing of ‘vajrasana’, the sitting pose that all beginners do.

Ritchie Russell, noted neurophysiologist from Oxford, argued in his 1972 article that some yoga poses “threatened to cause strokes even in relatively young, healthy people”, the New York Times report said.

Unlike other physical exercise, yoga doesn’t want the practitioner to strain too much. Then where in the problem lies is a big question. It stems from one major fact: most practitioners do things more than are required of them.

According to the study, you can normally stretch backward your neck 75 degrees, forward 50 degrees and rotate about 40 degrees unless you are intermediate student, who can do it about 50 degrees.

Given this, now we have to consider Russell’s views. According to him “extreme motions” of neck and head “could injure vertebral arteries, producing clots, swelling and constriction and eventually wreck havoc in the brain”.

It is time governments stepped in with some regulations; make it law that trained teachers alone can teach. Since studies prove possible fatal injuries, why we should allow sham teachers continue to open their shops; it is all about public health.

Before issuing a blanket ban, authorities have to consider adept, well-trained, resourceful traditional teachers; because it is through them, the system has come down to us.

However, we can’t let in sham people under the garb of good traditional teachers. Set up qualified authorities to evaluate their knowledge and skill in yoga and confer special teaching certificates.

(The views expressed are personal. Some of the other articles of the columnist: How stupid are you?, Women, be careful while in New York, Explaining mysteries to kids, and Yes, women go crazy over Saritha!)