Yoga for figure skaters: jumps and landings, the lower back and hips, ankles and balance, spins, what the evidence shows, and a class

No yoga trial in figure skaters

We found no trial of yoga, stretching or flexibility training in figure skaters. The only yoga study in any skaters followed 15 short track speed skaters for 8 weeks, with no comparison group.

Sources 1, 2, 3

Most young skaters' injuries come from overuse

In 294 young skaters at a US sports medicine clinic, 68.9% of injuries came from overuse, and about 1 in 9 was a bone stress injury, most often in the back, the foot and ankle or the lower leg. Pairs skaters and ice dancers are hurt more by falls from lifts and throws.

Sources 4, 5

Back pain in a young skater needs checking

Nearly 1 in 3 young skaters seen for back pain had a bone stress injury at the back of a vertebra. Laybacks and Biellmann positions already take the back to the end of its range, so yoga shouldn't add more arching (our suggestion).

Sources 4, 6

Balance can be trained off the ice

In the one randomised trial in skaters, 4 weeks of off-ice neuromuscular training improved eyes-closed landing balance by 21% against basic exercise, in 44 skaters. It measured balance, not injuries. One-leg poses in the landing shape suit skaters.

Source 7

More flexibility isn't the answer

Adult skaters who stretched weren't injured less, stretching programmes don't prevent sports injuries, and a yoga article on U.S. Figure Skating's own site warns against practices that focus on "extreme flexibility".

Sources 8, 9, 10

Eat enough, and no comments on bodies

Skipped meals went with severe injury in young skaters, and more than half of 57 skaters had had comments about their weight or shape, which went with disordered eating. Missed periods and bone pain that builds need a GP.

Sources 11, 12

What the sport asks

Singles skaters jump several turns and land on one leg in a stiff boot; pairs add lifts and throws; ice dancers and synchronised teams skate in close contact. Jumps keep getting harder: at European and World Championships, men went from an average of under one quadruple jump to more than three in recent years.

Source 13

Where skaters get hurtStrong evidence

At four Junior World Championships, about a quarter of 469 skaters recalled an acute injury and over 40% an overuse problem; in singles women, stress fractures and jumper's knee led. Pairs skaters and ice dancers had more acute injuries, from falls from lifts and throws, and in synchronised skating about 1 in 5 acute injuries in women was a head injury. A 2025 review of 29 studies warned that the data are of low quality.

Sources 5, 14, 15, 16

LandingsEmerging evidence

In barefoot one-leg landings, skaters landed at 3.5 times body weight, more than non-skaters. About a quarter of 164 competitive skaters had had a stress fracture, a third of those training 12 or more sessions a week against under a fifth of the rest, and in world-class skaters every stress fracture was in the take-off leg. In elite skaters, the landing leg's bone was denser than the take-off leg's.

Sources 17, 18, 19, 20

Where yoga fits

Off the ice: ankle range lost in the boot, balance on one bent leg in the landing shape, hip control on both sides, turning the other way from your spins and jumps, back endurance without extra arching, and slow breathing before a skate. It doesn't train landings or jumps (the off-ice workout does), replace boot fitting, coaching or the concussion rules, or treat a back stress fracture. Our figure skating page has the off-ice workout, the warm-up and the safety advice, and our yoga for dancers guide is the nearest yoga page.

No yoga trial in figure skatersStrong evidence

PubMed found 4 records for yoga with skating, none a yoga trial in figure skaters. The only yoga study in any skaters gave 15 short track speed skaters yoga sessions during 8 weeks of heavy training, and 11 of 14 posture angles improved. There was no comparison group, the journal isn't indexed in MEDLINE (the main index of medical journals), and its remark that no skater had an overuse injury in 8 weeks can't show prevention.

Sources 1, 2

No stretching or Pilates trial; one balance trialEmerging evidence

Our PubMed search for stretching, flexibility or Pilates in figure skaters found 24 records and no trial. The one randomised trial of any off-ice programme found that 4 weeks of neuromuscular training, 3 times a week, improved eyes-closed landing balance by 21% against basic exercise in 44 skaters. It measured balance, not injuries.

Sources 3, 7

Flexibility and injury in skatersMixed evidence

In adult skaters, stretching and warm-up habits didn't differ between those who had been injured and those who hadn't. An old study found that three in four young skaters who improved their thigh flexibility lost their knee pain, but it had no comparison group (28 skaters retested).

Sources 8, 21

Stretching across sportStrong evidence

Across 25 trials, stretching programmes didn't prevent sports injuries, while strength and balance training did better. A 2025 consensus of 20 stretching researchers agreed that stretching raises range of motion but isn't an all-round injury prevention strategy, and holds of 60 seconds or more just before explosive work cost a little power.

Sources 9, 22, 23

Range you can useEmerging evidence

In 39 dance students over 6 weeks, active range improved more with strength at the end of range or gentle stretching than with hard stretching. Slow, forced stretching tore the hamstring tendon in 15 professional dancers, who took a median of 50 weeks to return. Spiral and layback range is the coach's job, built with strength at the end of range.

Sources 24, 25

Spins and dizzinessMixed evidence

Skaters' balance organs adapt to spinning: in a laboratory test, 11 skaters had much less motion sickness than 11 non-skaters. No study has tested yoga or balance poses for spin dizziness.

Source 26

Breathing before a skateEmerging evidence

Slow breathing raises heart rate variability in the moment, but in 34 people, 4 weeks of it after sprint training added no recovery or performance benefit. It's a calming tool before a competition skate, untested in skaters.

Sources 27, 28

What yoga can't do

Yoga doesn't train jumping or landing forces. Our off-ice workout for figure skaters has the jumps, landings and strength; yoga adds one-leg balance in the landing shape and calm control (our reading).

Count yoga as trainingEmerging evidence

Stress fractures went with 12 or more sessions a week, and the International Olympic Committee calls poor load management a major risk factor for injury. Count a strong yoga class as training, not rest.

Sources 18, 29

Young skaters' backsEmerging evidence

Nearly 1 in 3 young skaters seen for back pain at one US clinic had a bone stress injury at the back of a vertebra. A review names laybacks and Biellmann positions, which need extreme arching of the lower back and hip, as the suspected cause; that is a likely mechanism, not one that has been measured.

Sources 4, 6

No extra arching (our suggestion)

Leave deep backbends and long arching holds out of yoga: wheel, camel, bow, a deep dancer pose and long upward dogs. With back pain, leave out sphinx and locust too until it's checked. Back endurance in this guide comes from bird dog and small locust lifts.

Source 6

Back pain in a young skater

A teenager in a sport that arches or twists the back, such as gymnastics, dance, diving, volleyball, tennis, cricket fast bowling, baseball pitching, weightlifting, football or rugby, with back pain that lasts more than a couple of weeks, is worse arching back or stops them training: get it checked by a GP or sports physiotherapist. It can be a stress fracture in the spine.

Back pain that lasts more than a couple of weeks or is worse arching back, and bone pain that builds with training, need a GP or sports physiotherapist before more jumping. Our spondylolisthesis and stress fracture guides explain why.

Sources 4, 30

Range and the hip jointMixed evidence

A review links hip impingement and labral tears in skaters to the range advanced skills need, as in dancers and gymnasts. At hip arthroscopy, athletes from flexibility sports, skaters among them, had more cartilage damage on the ball of the hip than other athletes (12.0% against 2.0%).

Sources 6, 31

Control on both sidesEmerging evidence

In 32 elite skaters, women reached less far on the landing leg in a balance test. The class works the side of the hip with clamshells and side planks, and the front of the hip with a mild low lunge, the same on both sides (our reading).

Source 32

BootsEmerging evidence

In 95 skaters, only a third wore the right boot size, half couldn't bend the ankle properly in their skates, and about a third had bursitis at the back of the heel. Ankle and calf work off the ice helps range and strength; boot fit is the fitter's job.

Source 33

Lace bite

Lace bite is irritation of the tendons at the front of the ankle where they rub on the boot's tongue. Keep kneeling on pointed feet, as in hero pose, short if that area is sore (our suggestion).

Source 6

Balance off the iceEmerging evidence

Off-ice neuromuscular training improved landing balance in the one trial in skaters, and across sport, balance training roughly halved injuries, though none of those trials was in skaters. Yoga's one-leg poses in a landing shape are a similar kind of training, untested as yoga.

Sources 7, 9

Turn both ways (our suggestion)

Each skater jumps and spins one way, season after season. Upper-back turns the same amount each way, including the way you don't spin, are our suggestion: no study has tested them.

DizzinessMixed evidence

Skaters' balance organs adapt to spinning. Dizziness after a fall or a knock to the head is a concussion question first, and an expert plan for elite skaters' return after concussion brings spins, jumps and upside-down positions back last. Leave head-down poses and fast head turns out while you're dizzy, and see a GP if dizziness keeps coming back (our suggestion); our vertigo guide covers inner-ear causes.

Sources 26, 34

Growth spurts (British Gymnastics' advice, the closest published guidance)

Injury risk peaks around the growth spurt. Modify training, go back to basics, keep flexibility rather than push it, and tell the coach about joint pain, back pain or tight muscles, as British Gymnastics advises.

Source 35

Hours

The American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine's consensus names figure skating as a possible exception to the advice against early specialisation, because the top level comes in the teens, but asks that children training more hours a week than their age be watched for burnout and overuse injury.

Source 36

Eating enoughEmerging evidence

In 137 young Swedish skaters, a severe injury went with more skipped meals a week. In 57 skaters, 35.1% screened positive for disordered eating, and fewer than 16% had heard of the female athlete triad or relative energy deficiency in sport (REDs), where too little energy for the training harms health and performance in both sexes. In a year-long study of young aesthetic-sport athletes, wanting to be leaner to perform better came before disordered eating.

Sources 11, 12, 37, 38

Periods, eating and comments on bodies

See a GP if you've missed your period 3 times in a row, your periods haven't started by 15 or have become irregular, or you've had a stress fracture from ordinary activity or more than one. If you're worried about your eating, see a GP as soon as you can, or call the eating disorder charity Beat on 0808 801 0677.

See a GP, and tell the club's welfare officer about comments on bodies (our suggestion). Our eating disorders and menstrual cycle guides explain more.

Sources 39, 40

Our suggested week

Our editorial starting point:

• One or two 25-minute sessions a week, off the ice on a rest day or after training.
• Before the ice, the figure skating warm-up.
• The off-ice workout for landings, jumps and strength.
• In a growth spurt, keep the range you have, and eat enough, especially around early ice sessions.

Source 29

A fall with a knock to the head

Call 999 if someone has hit their head and has been knocked out and hasn't woken up, can't stay awake or keep their eyes open, has a fit, has fallen from a height of more than 1 metre or 5 stairs, has problems with their vision or hearing, has clear fluid coming from their ears or nose, has new numbness or weakness, has problems with walking, balance, understanding, speaking or writing, hit their head at high speed, or their behaviour has changed. Get help from NHS 111 if they're being sick, feel dizzy or take medicine that thins the blood. If you're told to go to A&E (accident and emergency), don't drive yourself there if you have hit your head.

Off the ice: if in doubt, sit them out. No return that day, and an assessment within 24 hours by a healthcare professional or NHS 111. Get help from NHS 111 straight away if they're being sick, feel dizzy, take medicine that thins the blood, or had been drinking alcohol.

With a suspected concussion, if in doubt, sit them out. The UK's grassroots guidelines say no sport for at least 24 hours, get checked by a healthcare professional or NHS 111 within 24 hours, follow a staged return, and no competition before day 21; if symptoms last beyond 28 days, stay out of sport and see a doctor. Yoga waits too: gentle breathing fits the early, light-activity stages, and no head-down poses or inversions until you're cleared (our reading). Our concussion guide has the stages.

Sources 41, 42, 43

A neck injury after a fall from a lift or throw

Don't move them: the UK guidelines say someone with a suspected neck injury should be moved only by healthcare professionals with the right training. Call 999 (our suggestion).

Source 42

Back pain in a young skater

A teenager in a sport that arches or twists the back, such as gymnastics, dance, diving, volleyball, tennis, cricket fast bowling, baseball pitching, weightlifting, football or rugby, with back pain that lasts more than a couple of weeks, is worse arching back or stops them training: get it checked by a GP or sports physiotherapist. It can be a stress fracture in the spine.

Back pain that lasts more than a couple of weeks or is worse arching back, and bone pain that builds with training, need a GP or sports physiotherapist before more jumping. Our spondylolisthesis and stress fracture guides explain why.

Sources 4, 30

An ankle or foot injury

Call 999 or go to A&E: after an injury, you heard a crack, the foot or ankle has changed shape or points at an odd angle, a bone is sticking out, there is a bad cut over it, you're in severe pain, or the toes look blue or white, feel numb or are cold to touch. These can mean a broken bone. Don't drive yourself.

Same day (NHS 111 or an urgent treatment centre): after an injury, you can't put weight on it or walk more than a few steps, the pain is very bad or getting worse, there is a lot of swelling or bruising or it is getting worse, it feels very stiff, or it's not feeling any better after treating it yourself. Get the same help if you also have a very high temperature, or feel hot, cold or shivery: this could be an infection. If you think it's broken, don't treat it yourself.

Same day: a sudden snap or pop at the back of the heel or calf, or a feeling of being kicked there, then walking flat-footed and being unable to push off, stand on tiptoe or climb stairs. It could be an Achilles tendon rupture or a broken heel bone. Go to A&E or a minor injuries unit, or contact NHS 111.

See a GP or physiotherapist for:

• An ankle that keeps giving way months after a sprain.
• One spot on a foot bone that hurts with every step and later at night: a possible stress fracture.

Source 44

A wrist or arm after a fall

Go to A&E or call 999 if the arm or wrist is numb, tingling or has pins and needles, a bone is sticking out, or it has changed colour or shape or is at an odd angle. Get help from NHS 111 if it's very painful, you can't use it, or the swelling or bruising is large or getting worse. Pain in the hollow at the base of the thumb after a fall needs checking the same day: see our scaphoid fracture guide.

Source 45

Skipped meals, missed periods or comments about your body

See a GP, and tell the club's welfare officer about comments on bodies (our suggestion). Our eating disorders and menstrual cycle guides explain more.

See a GP if you've missed your period 3 times in a row, your periods haven't started by 15 or have become irregular, or you've had a stress fracture from ordinary activity or more than one. If you're worried about your eating, see a GP as soon as you can, or call the eating disorder charity Beat on 0808 801 0677.

Sources 39, 40

Chest pain or fainting: call 999

Call 999 if:

• You get sudden pain or discomfort in your chest that doesn't go away; it can feel like squeezing or pressure, burning or indigestion.
• The pain spreads to your left or right arm, or your neck, jaw, stomach or back.
• You have chest pain and feel sweaty, sick, light-headed or short of breath.
• Someone faints while exercising, can't be woken within 1 minute, or has chest pain or a pounding, fluttering or irregular heartbeat.

Sources 46, 47

Very flexible joints

If you're hypermobile, don't use mobility work to push further: the NHS says "do not overextend your joints just because you can". See a GP if you think you have joint hypermobility syndrome: for example, your joints keep dislocating, or you keep getting sprains, strains, pain or stiffness.

Source 48

During yoga

A joint pain that is sharp, gets worse during a session, lingers into the next day or changes how you move is a reason to use an easier version, and to see a GP or physiotherapist if it keeps happening (the rule in our plans). Muscle soreness for a day or two after something new is normal. In a hot class, stop if you feel dizzy, sick or unwell; our hot yoga guide lists the signs of heat illness.

With glaucoma, or high blood pressure that isn't under control, skip headstands, shoulder stands and long head-down holds. With osteoporosis, swap deep forward folds for a flat-back hinge from the hips, and twist smoothly. In pregnancy, our yoga in pregnancy guide covers the changes. NCCIH advises beginners to avoid headstands, shoulder stands, the lotus position and forceful breathing.

You can say no to any hands-on adjustment, and a teacher registered with Yoga Alliance must get your explicit consent each time.

Source 49

Before you start

The NHS advises getting advice from a healthcare professional first if you have a health problem, an injury or symptoms, or have recently had a heart attack or an operation.

"Skaters need more flexibility"Mixed evidence

Adult skaters who stretched weren't injured less, stretching programmes didn't prevent injuries across sport, and laybacks and spirals already take the back and hips to the end of their range. Skaters need control of the range they have, and more range only where the coach says a skill needs it.

Sources 8, 9, 6

"Yoga prevents skating injuries"Strong evidence

No study has counted injuries after yoga in figure skaters. The speed skating study's remark that no skater had an overuse injury in 8 weeks was an observation in 15 athletes with no comparison group.

Sources 1, 2

"Stretching before practice prevents injuries"Strong evidence

Not in adult skaters or across sport. Use the figure skating warm-up before the ice.

Sources 8, 23

"A strong, flexible back prevents layback injuries"Mixed evidence

No study shows it, and the arched positions are the suspected cause of back stress injuries in young skaters.

Sources 6, 4

"Hot yoga will heal a skater's back"

One former ice dancer's essay credits hot yoga with healing her back, but that's one person's story. Back pain in a young skater needs a GP or sports physiotherapist first.

"Skaters should be light, so eat less"Emerging evidence

Skipped meals went with more severe injuries, and comments about weight went with disordered eating.

Sources 11, 12

"A long stretch after skating stops soreness"Strong evidence

Stretching before or after exercise barely changes next-day soreness, across 12 studies.

Source 50

"You need to be flexible to do yoga"

No. The class here is about balance, ankles and control, not the splits, and every pose has an easier version.