Video yoga a health hazard

Yoga exponents are being caught out by the activity's relaxing and low impact image with more than one in four injured during sessions.

A failure to warm up and prepare adequately for the exercise has been identified as causing the surprising injury rate.

The risks of yoga are contained in a sports injuries report to be released today.

The research, commissioned by Medibank Private, found sports injuries cost the Australian community more than $1.8 billion in the past year. The medical bill was $300 million more than the previous year.

Footballers were the most likely to be hurt and those aged between 18 and 24 were at greatest risk of breaking down.

Sports physician Dr Peter Larkins said yoga was not inherently dangerous but the injury rate showed many participants were not doing it correctly.

"You have to get the correct program and advice. There are a lot of stretching manoeuvres and maybe some are trying it at 38 thinking they are 18," he said.

"Yoga has become the new aerobics and some people are getting it out of a book or video. Participants need to ensure that they don't overdo it, particularly when starting a new health and fitness regime."

Nicole Walsh, the owner of Body Mind Life yoga studio, said she had not experienced the injury rate found in the survey.

She said students of Bikram yoga complete warm up breathing and stretching exercises before progressing. The increased room temperature also made injuries less frequent.

The report found 5.2 million injuries were incurred on Australian sporting fields and courts in the past 12 months requiring almost 25,000 hospital admissions and 250,000 emergency department presentations.

An alarming 3.6m injuries were untreated.

Ankle, foot and achilles tendon injuries are the most common accounting for 20 per cent of all sporting injuries.

The warning from fitness experts to warm up and cool down had failed to reach the masses with only 38 per cent of survey respondents saying they regularly completed pre and post sport regimes.

(Agencies)

瑜珈的倡导者们被这项运动表面上轻松、低强度的特点所蒙蔽，其实在练习过程中，有超过1/4的瑜珈练习者受过伤。

练习瑜珈之前没有热身、准备不充分被确认为是导致这个惊人的受伤比例的原因。

今天公布的一份运动伤害报告中提到了瑜珈的危险性。

私人健康保险公司委托进行的研究发现去年运动伤害给澳大利亚公众带来的损失超过18亿美元，医疗账单比前年多出3亿美元。

足球运动员是最易受伤的，年龄在18到24岁之间的人受伤的危险性最大。

体育专科医生彼得·拉金斯说瑜珈本身并不危险，受伤比例说明很多参与者没有进行正确的练习。

他说：“人们必须参加适当的课程，获得正确的指导。瑜珈中有很多伸展动作，其中一些可能只适合18岁的人做，而有些38岁的人也在尝试这些姿势。”

“瑜珈已经成为一种新型有氧运动，有些人从书本或录像中学习瑜珈。练习者务必确保不要做的过火，特别是在开始一种全新的健身方法时。”

“身体、心灵、生活”瑜珈练习室的主人尼科尔·沃尔什说她从没有遇到过像调查中那么高的损伤比例。

她说练习“热瑜珈”的学生们在开始练习之前要完成呼吸和伸展热身运动，逐渐升高的室温也会减少伤害的发生。

报告发现在过去12个月中，澳大利亚运动场馆内发生了520万起运动伤害事件，其中大约2万5千起需要到医院接受治疗，紧急医疗处理了25万件。

令人担忧的是还有360万件不曾处理。

脚踝，脚和脚后跟韧带是最常受伤的部位，在所有运动损伤中占20%。

健身专家提醒说大部分人没有进行热身和放松运动，只有38%的被调查者说他们通常在运动前后完成热身和整理运动。

warm up: 热身 manoeuvres: 动作 aerobics: 有氧运动 achilles tendon: 脚后跟韧带