Doctor warns of higher injury risks in older adults practicing yoga

A growing push to sell yoga as a healthy-ageing tool is colliding with a more cautious message from physicians. Dr. Rima Dada has pointed to epidemiological data suggesting older adults face higher injury risks in traditional yoga, including hip strains, vertebral fractures and strokes, even as the practice is being framed as a route to independence, vitality and longer healthspan.

The timing sharpens the debate. The 12th International Day of Yoga falls on June 21, 2026, with the theme “Yoga for Healthy Ageing,” while the World Health Organization’s Decade of Healthy Ageing, running from 2021 to 2030, puts older adults’ well-being squarely in the global public-health spotlight. In India, messaging tied to AIIMS and Fit India has emphasized yoga’s role in physical and mental well-being, lower biological-age markers, improved cellular health and healthier ageing.

The injury data, however, is hard to ignore. A Mayo Clinic summary said nearly 30,000 U.S. emergency-room visits were linked to yoga-associated injuries between 2001 and 2014. Adults 65 and older accounted for 13 percent of those injuries, and the injury rate in older adults rose from 6.9 to 57.9 per 100,000 participants over that period.

Back injuries have been a particular concern. Mayo Clinic researchers reported 33 patients whose back pain began after yoga, and 9 of those cases met criteria for vertebral compression fractures. Spinal flexion exercises were implicated, and a systematic review of yoga in people at risk of fractures concluded that the overall evidence was of very low certainty.

That does not mean yoga has no place in later life. Other research has suggested benefits for older adults, including better physical function, balance, walking speed, quality of life and possibly lower frailty. But the claim that yoga can reverse biological age is still being tested. In 2023, a randomized-trial protocol in Bangalore planned to enroll 166 adults ages 60 to 75 in a 12-month tailored yoga program and measure biological-age predictors and biomarkers.

For older adults who want to keep practicing, the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health says safety comes first. Its guidance recommends starting with gentle yoga or chair yoga and discussing medical issues with both a provider and the instructor. A 2017 U.S. survey cited by NCCIH found yoga participation among adults 65 and older had risen to 6.7 percent from 3.3 percent in 2012, underscoring how many older bodies are already in class.

The clearest takeaway is not to abandon the mat, but to change how it is used: avoid unsupervised deep spinal flexion, choose modified or chair-based classes, and treat pain, osteoporosis and other medical conditions as reasons to scale back rather than push through.