Ep 92: Repetitive Stress Injuries in Yoga: What You Should Know

Not all yoga injuries happen in a single moment. Many develop slowly, over time, from repeated movements or sustained positions. These are known as repetitive stress injuries, and they are some of the most common injuries students have because of their yoga practice.

In this episode, you'll hear why repetitive stress injuries are not always known to you or the student. I'll also remind you why adding variety to your sequencing matters, and how you can adapt your classes to support students without stepping outside your scope of practice. 

Finally, we’ll explore how important your language is, how these injuries affect nervous system regulation, and how prop usage can help students feel safe and supported while continuing to practice in a group setting.

Transcript

Monica: 0:00

From the outside. These injuries can seem minor because they don't always stop someone in their tracks. A student may still be able to practice, but what they're experiencing inside is different. In this episode, we'll discuss why repetitive stress injuries occur, what you should be on the lookout for, and how you can help students who are dealing with them. Welcome to the Essential Conversations for Yoga Teachers Podcast with me. I'm Monica Bright and I've been teaching yoga and running my yoga business for over a decade. This is the podcast for you. If you are a yoga teacher, you're looking for support. You love to be in conversation, and you're a lifelong student. In this podcast, I'll share with you. My life as a yoga teacher, the lessons I've learned, my process for building my business and helpful ideas, tools, strategies and systems I use and you can use so that your business thrives. We'll cover a diverse range of topics that will help you, whether you're just starting out or you've got years under your belt and you wanna dive deep and set yourself up for success. I am so glad you're here. Listen, I don't take myself too seriously, so expect to hear some laughs along the way. Now let's do this together. Welcome back to the podcast. I'm Monica, and I'm so glad you're here. Here we talk about the anatomy, the injuries, the nervous system insights, plus all the real life knowledge you wish had been included in your yoga teacher training. When we think about injuries in yoga, many people imagine something sudden like a pulled hamstring or a twisted ankle, but the truth is, most injuries that show up in your students don't come from a single incident. They build slowly over time through repeated stress on a joint, a muscle or attendant, these are called repetitive stress injuries, and they're incredibly common both in life off the mat and in a student's yoga practice. So what exactly are we talking about when we say repetitive stress injuries? These include conditions like tendinopathy, bursitis, carpal tunnel syndrome, rotator cuff issues, And even things like shin splints or stress fractures that emerge from cumulative loading instead of being caused by one big moment, these injuries happen because of small, repeated movements or sustained positions that gradually. Irritate tissues in yoga. This might look like repeated weightbearing in the wrists from vinyasa, transitions, strain in the shoulders from constant ANGs or discomfort in the hips from always moving into deep external rotation without balancing with some strength or joint stability work from the outside. These injuries can seem minor because they don't always stop someone in their tracks. A student may still be able to practice, but what they're experiencing on the inside is different. Repetitive stress injuries can create persistent discomfort, sensitivity, or even weakness in a specific area of their bodies. However, they often flare up in predictable ways pain presents during or after certain poses, or when a student repeats a particular movement multiple times. And this can affect a student's yoga experience. Instead of feeling safe, supported, and expansive in their practice, they might begin associating certain poses or even yoga itself with pain. One of the least talked about impacts of repetitive stress injuries is how they affect proprioceptive feedback. The body has to constantly recalibrate when there is irritation or inflammation in the tissues. For example, a student with tendinopathy in the wrist may unconsciously offload weight into their outer hand, which alters not just their experience in downward facing dog or plank or any other weightbearing pose, but also the feedback loop to their brain about how they feel about balancing and how supported they feel. Their nervous system begins to see the area as vulnerable, and that heightened sense of protection can lead to movement, hesitancy, guardedness, or even compensatory patterns elsewhere in the body. This is why you might see someone with wrist pain begin to tense their shoulders Or grip their jaw. Their whole system is adapting to what their body perceives as a threat. For yoga teachers, this means we need to look at repetitive stress injuries, not just as local issues, but as whole body experiences. A repetitive stress injury in the hip is not just a hip problem. It changes how the pelvis stabilizes, how the feet ground, and how safe the student feels. In dynamic transitions, Similarly, a repetitive strain in the shoulder doesn't just affect weightbearing poses. It changes how a student breathes, how they carry themselves in standing poses, and even how they emotionally relate to their practice. One of the challenges with repetitive stress injuries is that they're not always visible, unlike a broken bone or a major injury that keeps someone out of their practice entirely. Many students with repetitive stress injuries will continue showing up, doing poses that actually irritate the issue often because they don't realize what's happening or they don't wanna feel limited. This means as teachers, we need to pay attention to the signs. When you see a student avoiding certain transitions, constantly adjusting their wrists or their ankles, or looking uneasy and opposed, they used to do with ease. That's often a clue. Something repetitive might be brewing under the surface. Now let's talk about what we can actually do as teachers. First, it's important to remember that we're not here to diagnose or fix injuries. That's out of our scope for sure. But what we can do is create supportive environments that minimize repetitive stress and give students a variety of options. For example, if you're teaching a Vinyasa class. Notice how many times you're asking students to move through Torana. Could you offer an alternative that spares the wrist and shoulders? If you're sequencing a hip opening practice, are you just including one type of hip opening, or are you taking the hip in various different ranges, and are you offering strength work to support the tissues instead of just lengthening it time after time? This is where variety becomes essential. Repetitive stress injuries don't just come from one pose. They come from the accumulation of doing the same movement again and again without enough variability. So a thoughtful teacher can create sequences that build balance into the practice, not just physically, but proprioceptively as well. Giving students different ways to experience loading their joints and their tissues, or different ways to experience balance and movements that help their nervous system stay adaptable and resilient. Another key piece is language you are queuing when we only talk about the full expression of a pose or give alignment cues that don't allow for individual variation. We unintentionally encourage students to repeat the same exact movement pattern over and over, even if it doesn't feel good. Instead, invite exploration. You could say, notice how shifting your weight slightly changes your experience, or try placing your hand further forward and see if your risk feels more supported. These variations empower students to listen to their bodies, practice various alignments which might suit them better, and possibly make adjustments before stress accumulates. We should also remember the psychological. Of repetitive stress injuries, students may feel frustrated because these injuries develop slowly and linger for a long time. They might even feel like their body is failing them or that they're doing something wrong in their practice. As yoga teachers, part of our role is to normalize this experience and remind students that injury is not a reflection of their worth or their effort, but often a natural result of repetitive load. Offering compassion and support rather than fear or blame, is critical in helping students stay connected to their practice while navigating these challenges. It's also important to address how recovery strategies fit into yoga. Simple things like reducing load on the affected area. Using props creatively or shifting to a slower, more mindful practice can make yoga more accessible to someone with a repetitive stress injury. Beyond the physical practices like pranayama and meditation can be especially supportive for students dealing with pain because they help regulate the nervous system, reduce stress, and interrupt the pain protection cycle that often prolongs repetitive stress injuries. Ultimately, repetitive stress injuries remind us that the yoga practice isn't just about Asana. It's about the adaptability, awareness, and support you can provide your students by recognizing the signs, offering variety, supporting proprioceptive feedback, and acknowledging the emotional weight of injury, we can make yoga a safe and healing space for students navigating repetitive stress injuries. So the next time you plan a sequence, ask yourself, am I giving students the same pattern over and over, or am I offering enough variety to keep their bodies resilient? And when a student shows up with a repetitive stress injury, how can I guide them towards options that build confidence and ease rather than reinforcing pain? These questions will help you grow as a teacher and serve your students in ways that truly matter. And remember to always be asking your students questions about how they're feeling physically and psychologically. You can get some great insight in these conversations. Understanding anatomy, biomechanics, and the effects yoga Asana have on the body helps you help your students. If you've been enjoying these episodes, I know that you're a yoga teacher who's ready to teach with more intention and less fear around injuries. Let's continue to raise the bar for how yoga supports real bodies in real life. It's so important for us to have this conversation so that you remember that students of all shapes, sizes, alignment and abilities Come to your classes and you can serve all of them. You know that my goal is for you to love the yoga teaching life, and it's important to understand movement and the issues students come to your classes with. Subscribe to the podcast so you're always in the know when a new episode drops, and share it with another yoga teacher who you think would love to be in on these conversations. And finally, thank you for helping to spread the word about. This podcast. Alright. Thank you for listening. That's it for now. Bye.