Yoga guide
Most gymnasts are already very flexible, so yoga's job for a gymnast is different from almost every other yoga page on this site: not more range, but control of the range you have, wrists and shoulders that cope with the load, trunk endurance, balance and a calm way to wind down. Pushing further into the splits or backbends adds nothing that's been shown to help, and forced stretching has hurt gymnasts. No yoga trial in gymnasts has counted injuries.
This guide covers why more flexibility isn't the goal, wrists and growth plates, the lower back and stress fractures, landings, growth spurts, eating enough and weighing, what the small yoga studies in gymnasts show, and a free 25-minute control class with a 3D demo of every move. It ends with the warning signs every young gymnast, parent and coach should know.
International gymnasts were the most lax group in one study, with a large gap between the range they could reach with help and the range they could hold themselves. So this guide's job is control of the range you have, not more range.
The three yoga studies we found (30 rhythmic gymnasts with no comparison group, 13 young gymnasts, and a student thesis) are small, weak and outside MEDLINE, the main index of medical journals. The one injury prevention trial in gymnastics, a strength and flexibility warm-up, didn't reduce overuse injuries.
British Gymnastics' 2024 flexibility policy says a gymnast must be able to ease off or stop any stretch that causes more than mild discomfort, and a coach must not sit, lie or stand on a gymnast. The Whyte Review heard of coaches using their own weight to force stretches.
About half of adolescent artistic gymnasts have wrist pain (low-certainty evidence), most at 10 to 14, and stress fractures in the back of a vertebra were found in about 14% of gymnasts across 11 studies. A wrist that's swollen or painful the next day, or back pain that's worse arching or lasts more than 2 weeks, needs a doctor.
British Gymnastics flags gymnasts at 85% to 96% of their predicted adult height as at greater risk and asks for keeping flexibility rather than improving it. Yoga should follow the same rule.
Elite rhythmic gymnasts often have too little energy for their training, and late periods. Missed periods, or periods not started by 15, need a GP, and British Gymnastics says coaches must not weigh gymnasts.
At three Olympic Games, there were 84 injuries per 1,000 registered gymnasts, most often ankle sprains. At a French national centre, 91.4% of gymnasts had at least one injury each season, and growth plate problems were the commonest type. In US college women, there were about 8 to 9 injuries per 1,000 training sessions and competitions, and concussion was the commonest single injury. Across 22 studies, a higher level and more competition went with more injury.
Rest-day control work: wrists and shoulder blades built gradually (and rested when they hurt), trunk endurance at low load, active range held with your own muscles, balance, slow breathing for nerves and a calm way to wind down. Not more passive range, not backbends, not weight on sore wrists, and never a partner pushing a stretch. It doesn't replace coaching, the gymnastics conditioning workout, the growth-spurt advice or the welfare rules on our gymnastics page.
British Gymnastics' flexibility and growth rules are policy, not trial results. No yoga trial in gymnasts has counted injuries.
PubMed found 23 records for yoga with gymnasts, most using "gymnastics" to mean general exercise, and no yoga trial in gymnasts. The three studies below sit outside MEDLINE, and none counted injuries.
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30 national-level rhythmic gymnasts aged 11 to 16 did one hatha yoga session a week for 5 months. The authors say that with no comparison group they can't separate the effect of yoga from the effect of training.
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13 young non-elite gymnasts were randomly given 6 weeks of yoga or of exercises to stabilise the lower back and pelvis. Back endurance improved more with the stabilising exercises, and back pain was reported from only six completed logbooks. We could read only the summary.
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A Ukrainian master's thesis tested yoga-style exercises for flexibility in beginner rhythmic gymnasts. Its summary gives no sample size, and it wasn't peer reviewed.
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In 23 Norwegian rhythmic gymnastics clubs, an 8-month warm-up programme with strength and flexibility exercises didn't reduce overuse injuries in the knees, lower back and hips and groin (odds ratio 0.86, with a wide margin of error). The assessors didn't know which clubs did the programme.
Source 6
In elite adolescent athletes and in 24 national-team gymnasts, hypermobility didn't go with more injury. In 44 college rhythmic gymnasts, both limited and excessive flexibility went with injury, depending on the body region. No screening test has been shown to predict gymnastics injury, and in 67 junior gymnasts, limited flexibility wasn't linked with back pain.
Across 25 trials, stretching programmes didn't prevent sports injuries. Strength training raised range of motion about as much as stretching in 11 trials, and a 2025 consensus of stretching researchers agreed that stretching isn't an all-round injury prevention strategy.
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.
A 2026 review reported falls of 1.5 to 3.1 points out of 10 in gymnasts' back pain with what it called core stability training, but the studies behind those figures mostly tested a postural re-education method (the Mézières method) or combined rehabilitation, two were pilots and one had no comparison group, and follow-up was short. For a diagnosed stress fracture in the back of a vertebra, starting physiotherapy straight away got 64 young athletes back to sport 38 days sooner than resting first, with fewer recurrences of back pain over a year (3% against 29%).
Slow breathing raises heart rate variability in the moment, across 223 studies, but it hasn't been tested for competition nerves in gymnasts.
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In 65 people, joint laxity rose step by step from non-gymnasts to novice gymnasts, dancers and international gymnasts, whose large gap between active and passive range seemed to make their joints unstable. In 132 elite adolescent athletes, 24.6% of TeamGym gymnasts met a common hypermobility cut-off, against 13.2% of handball players.
A review of dancers' and gymnasts' hips warns that with extreme hip range and loose soft tissue, these athletes may develop instability, impingement or both. The 2016 scoliosis guideline notes a tenfold higher rate of scoliosis in rhythmic gymnasts and says techniques to increase joint mobility may be unsuitable for children with lax joints.
British Gymnastics' Flexibility Training Safeguarding Policy (October 2024) is mandatory. The gymnast must be able to reduce or stop any stretch at any time if it causes more than mild discomfort; a coach must not sit on, lie on or stand on the gymnast; in rapid growth, the emphasis is on keeping flexibility rather than improving it; and bridges and splits aren't allowed for preschool children. The Whyte Review heard of overstretching to the point of distress and coaches using their own weight to force stretches. The policy also says flexibility training "may reduce the risk of an injury"; the trials across sport don't support that for stretching.
Stop a stretch that pinches the front of the hip or the back of the ankle, never let anyone push you into the splits or turnout, and with hypermobile joints, stop a move if a joint feels about to slip (our hypermobility guide).
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.
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Talk to the club welfare officer, or contact British Gymnastics' welfare team.
Gymnasts walk and jump on their hands, which can put 2 to 4 times body weight through the wrists, the American Academy of Pediatrics says. Across 9 studies, about half of adolescent artistic gymnasts had wrist pain (low to very low certainty), most often at 10 to 14 and with more training. In 59 young non-elite gymnasts, half showed stress injury to the growth plate at the end of the radius, the forearm bone on the thumb side, on X-ray.
Prevention hasn't been tested. Reviews suggest limiting excessive wrist loading, keeping the wrist flexible, good technique, and wrist and core strengthening. The class has gentle wrist circles and rocks for pain-free wrists, and bird dog on fists or forearms if wrists are sore.
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An ache on the back or thumb side of the wrist, just above the crease, in a growing gymnast (or cheerleader or diver) that builds with training and may still hurt the next day: possibly gymnast's wrist, a stress injury of the growth plate. Stop weight-bearing on the hands and get it checked: it needs weeks to months off hand loading, not a few days.
Wrist pain that is still there the day after gymnastics, or a swollen wrist: stop weight-bearing on the hands and see a GP or sports doctor. The American Academy of Pediatrics advises a doctor for a wrist that is swollen or painful the next day.
Wrist pain that comes back each time weight on the hands restarts, or hasn't settled after 2 weeks of rest from it: see the clinician again. An X-ray, and occasionally a scan, may be needed.
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With a sore wrist, stop weight-bearing on the hands in yoga as well: downward dog, plank, crow and chaturanga. Use a forearm plank, which keeps weight off bent-back wrists, or leave them out.
Back pain affects 25% to 50% of gymnasts, more in rhythmic gymnastics. Stress fractures in the back of a vertebra (spondylolysis) were found in about 14% of gymnasts across 11 studies, against about 6% of adults generally, and in 17% of Spanish elite artistic gymnasts. Among teenage girls with back pain at one US clinic, 34% of gymnasts had spondylolysis, the highest of the girls' sports. In 40 elite UK gymnasts scanned whether or not their back hurt, 75% had abnormal MRI findings.
In 67 junior gymnasts, back pain went with having started periods, not with limited flexibility.
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Gymnastics already arches the back hard in walkovers and handsprings, and back pain that's worse with them is the classic sign of spondylolysis. Leave deep backbends out of yoga entirely (wheel, camel, bow, upward dog and a deep dancer pose), and sphinx and locust too with back pain, until it's checked.
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 for more than 2 weeks, or worse when arching back, needs a doctor. Call 999 or go to A&E if back pain comes with pain, tingling, weakness or numbness in both legs, a loss of feeling around your genitals or bottom, or changes in your bladder or bowels.
In 64 young athletes with an active spondylolysis, starting physiotherapy straight away beat resting first. Treatment is the clinician's and physiotherapist's job; our yoga for spondylolisthesis class is for later, with their agreement.
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Women gymnasts' injuries are mostly in the legs and men's in the arms, and in club gymnasts, injury was most common during landing. In 581 college women gymnasts, 17.2% had torn an Achilles tendon. The American Academy of Pediatrics says programmes that teach landing and include hamstring strengthening should be part of all gymnasts' training.
The gymnastics conditioning workout does. Yoga can add balance in the landing shape (chair pose, warrior III, tree pose) and calm control (our reading).
In 21 trampoline gymnasts, injury risk was highest at about 90% of predicted adult height, around the growth spurt, and rose with higher weekly training load. A 2026 review of 65 studies found that the risk of bone stress injury rises around puberty in aesthetic and acrobatic sports. In 274 young gymnasts followed for 2 years, those who hadn't reached puberty had fewer repeated back injuries and fewer hip injuries.
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.
The American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine's consensus names gymnastics 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.
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This guide and its class are for teenagers and adults. Our yoga for kids guide covers children's yoga, and British Gymnastics' policy doesn't allow bridges or splits for preschool children.
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In 67 elite rhythmic gymnasts before an international competition, energy availability was low and first periods came late (at 15.3 years on average). A fifth of 84 adolescent artistic gymnasts scored above the cut-off on an eating disorder questionnaire. In Norwegian rhythmic gymnasts, those who weren't having periods had a higher risk of substantial injury. Too little energy for training harms health and performance in both sexes.
More than a quarter of those who contacted the Whyte Review described excessive weight management, and some gymnasts suffered, and still suffer, from eating disorders. British Gymnastics' weighing policy now says it is always the gymnast's choice whether they are weighed, and coaches must not weigh gymnasts.
With missed periods or worries about food, more training makes low energy worse, as our yoga for dancers guide says. Food and a manageable workload come first.
See a GP if periods stop or haven't started by 15, or if you're worried about your eating; you can also call Beat on 0808 801 0677.
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.
The NHS lists spending a lot of time worrying about your weight and body shape, avoiding socialising when food might be involved, eating very little, making yourself sick or taking laxatives, exercising too much, very strict habits around food, and changes in mood. See a GP as soon as you can, or call Beat on 0808 801 0677.
Our editorial starting point:
Wrist flow, 60 seconds, and wrist rocks, 10 slow rocks in each hand position (our yoga for wrists class); leave the rocks out, and all weight on your hands, if a wrist hurts the day after training. Y-T-W raises, 5 of each shape, forehead on a towel (our yoga for volleyball players class). Thread the needle, 30 seconds each side (our martial arts yoga class; adapted from the move page's dose).
Cat-cow: "8 waves, slower than feels natural" (the move page's dose), in a small range. Dead bug heel taps and bird dog, 2 sets of 6 each side (our yoga for a hip labral tear class), bird dog on fists or forearms if your wrists are sore. Side plank on your forearm, knees down to start, 2 holds of 20 seconds each side, and locust, 3 to 5 small lifts held 3 to 5 seconds (our yoga for dancers class); leave locust out if your back hurts arching.
Chair pose, the landing shape, 2 holds of 30 seconds (our yoga for volleyball players class). Standing hand-to-big-toe pose, 3 breaths each side, lifting only as high as your hip muscles hold the leg: its page says not to haul the leg higher with the arm. Warrior III, 3 breaths each side, twice, standing knee soft, and tree pose, 3 to 5 breaths each side, twice (both, like the hand-to-big-toe pose, our yoga for dancers class).
Slow breathing, 2 minutes, in for about 4 and out for about 6, with no holds (our yoga for dancers class; adapted from the move page's dose). Legs up the wall, 2 minutes (our yoga for runners routine). Corpse pose, 2 minutes (adapted from the move page's dose).
Nothing that pushes range further: no forced splits or oversplits, partner-pushed stretches, long passive end-range holds or deep yin (our suggestion). No deep backbends in yoga, and sphinx and locust left out with back pain (our suggestion). With a sore wrist, no downward dog, crow, chaturanga or plank on your hands: a forearm plank keeps weight off bent-back wrists, as its page says, or leave them out. If your elbows or knees bend backwards, keep a soft bend in them, as our hypermobility class does. Headstands, shoulder stands and plough aren't needed in yoga; handstands belong in coached gymnastics. No hot yoga, and no extra classes to burn energy.
3D demoWheel pose (Urdhva Dhanurasana)Advanced · No equipment
3D demoCamel pose (Ustrasana)Intermediate · No equipment
3D demoBow pose (Dhanurasana)Intermediate · No equipment
3D demoUpward-facing dog (Urdhva Mukha Svanasana)Intermediate · No equipment
3D demoDancer pose (Natarajasana)Advanced · No equipment
3D demoWide-angle seated forward fold (Upavistha Konasana)Intermediate · No equipment
3D demoDownward-facing dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana)Beginner · No equipment
3D demoCrow pose (Bakasana)Intermediate · No equipment
3D demoFour-limbed staff pose (Chaturanga Dandasana)Advanced · No equipment
3D demoForearm plankIntermediate · No equipment
3D demoSupported headstand (Salamba Sirsasana)Expert · A wall
3D demoSupported shoulderstand (Salamba Sarvangasana)Advanced · No equipment
3D demoPlow pose (Halasana)Advanced · No equipmentOn a rest day or after training, our 25-minute control class for gymnasts: our own selection, untested in a trial, for teenagers and adults. Before training, the gymnastics warm-up; for landings, wrists, shoulders and jumps, the conditioning workout. The wrist routines are for pain-free wrists; the spondylolisthesis class only after a diagnosed stress fracture, with your clinician's agreement; yoga after a concussion only within the concussion stages.
A 25-minute yoga control class for gymnasts: wrists, shoulder blades, the trunk at low load and active range held with your own muscles, with no extra stretching.
25 minBeginner15 movesWallA gymnastics warm-up: skips, wrist circles and rocks, shoulder work, cat-cow, hollow and arch holds, leg swings, short splits holds and landings.
15 minBeginner18 movesBand, wallA gymnastics conditioning session: jumps from the youth vault trial, landings, wrist and shoulder strength, wall handstands, and hollow and arch holds.
45 minIntermediate22 movesOther / check instructions, stepWrist mobility and forearm strength for desk work, climbing, push-ups and handstands.
10 minBeginner7 movesWall, dumbbellA 20-minute yoga class for wrists: a gentle warm-up, poses with the hands free, then weight through the hands in stages, from a wall to all fours to the forearms.
20 minBeginner18 movesWall, other / check instructionsA 25-minute yoga class for hypermobile joints, HSD and hEDS: supported lying work, all-fours control, standing poses with soft joints, balance and a legs-up rest.
25 minBeginner15 movesBand, wallA 25-minute low-load routine for hypermobile joints: hip, trunk and shoulder control plus balance, done slowly in the middle of your range.
25 minBeginner15 movesBench or box, wallTwenty-five minutes of yoga for dancers: feet and ankles, turnout from the hips, balances you control yourself, trunk strength, then gentle stretches and rest.
25 minBeginner17 movesOther / check instructions, bench or boxA 25-minute yoga class for spondylolisthesis: trunk strength with the spine still, bending-forward rests, hips, hamstrings and standing poses, with no backbends.
25 minBeginner19 movesNo equipmentA 45-minute restorative yoga sequence: five fully supported poses held for 4 to 10 minutes each, with slow breathing and a long final rest.
45 minBeginner6 movesFirm cushion, wallA 6-minute breathing routine: slow breathing, crocodile breathing, alternate nostril breathing, box breathing and 4-7-8 breathing.
6 minBeginner5 movesNo equipmentTwenty minutes of animal poses, star jumps, crawls, balloon breaths and a short relaxation for children, with no headstands or shoulder stands.
20 minBeginner17 movesNo equipmentA 15-minute head-up yoga class after a concussion: seated breathing and spine moves, then gentle standing poses at a counter, with a symptom check.
15 minBeginner12 movesBench or box, wallThese are the warning signs from our gymnastics, gymnast's wrist, wrist pain, dance and yoga guides, word for word. This is general information, not a diagnosis. A&E means accident and emergency; in the US, call 911 for 999.
After a fall onto the head or neck, with neck pain, numbness, tingling or weakness, don't move the gymnast and call 999. Only healthcare professionals with the right training should move them.
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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.
Stop at once: if in doubt, sit them out. No training or competition for at least 24 hours, an assessment within 24 hours by a healthcare professional or NHS 111, and no competition before day 21. Contact NHS 111 straight away if they're being sick or feel dizzy.
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.
An ache on the back or thumb side of the wrist, just above the crease, in a growing gymnast (or cheerleader or diver) that builds with training and may still hurt the next day: possibly gymnast's wrist, a stress injury of the growth plate. Stop weight-bearing on the hands and get it checked: it needs weeks to months off hand loading, not a few days.
Wrist pain that is still there the day after gymnastics, or a swollen wrist: stop weight-bearing on the hands and see a GP or sports doctor. The American Academy of Pediatrics advises a doctor for a wrist that is swollen or painful the next day.
Wrist pain that comes back each time weight on the hands restarts, or hasn't settled after 2 weeks of rest from it: see the clinician again. An X-ray, and occasionally a scan, may be needed.
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Go to A&E (accident and emergency) or call 999 if an injured wrist or arm 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. A wrist that's swollen or painful the next day needs a doctor, and our gymnast's wrist guide covers wrist pain that builds with training.
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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 for more than 2 weeks, or worse when arching back, needs a doctor. Call 999 or go to A&E if back pain comes with pain, tingling, weakness or numbness in both legs, a loss of feeling around your genitals or bottom, or changes in your bladder or bowels.
Pain in one spot of a bone that builds with training, then aches at rest or at night, can be a stress fracture: stop that training and get it checked. Our stress fracture guide explains.
British Gymnastics advises gymnasts and parents or carers to seek help from a qualified medical professional, such as a physiotherapist, sports doctor or GP, if a gymnast's pain:
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See a GP if periods stop or haven't started by 15, or if you're worried about your eating; you can also call Beat on 0808 801 0677.
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.
The NHS lists spending a lot of time worrying about your weight and body shape, avoiding socialising when food might be involved, eating very little, making yourself sick or taking laxatives, exercising too much, very strict habits around food, and changes in mood. See a GP as soon as you can, or call Beat on 0808 801 0677.
Stop a stretch that pinches the front of the hip or the back of the ankle, never let anyone push you into the splits or turnout, and with hypermobile joints, stop a move if a joint feels about to slip (our hypermobility guide).
Talk to the club welfare officer, or contact British Gymnastics' welfare team.
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.
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Call 999 if:
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.
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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.
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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.
Very flexible joints with a large gap between active and passive range can be unstable, in rhythmic gymnasts both too much and too little flexibility went with injury by body region, and very flexible athletes' hips may develop instability, impingement or both.
The one prevention trial in gymnastics, which included flexibility work, didn't reduce overuse injuries, and across sport, stretching programmes didn't prevent injuries. British Gymnastics' policy says flexibility training "may reduce the risk of an injury"; the trials don't support that for stretching.
British Gymnastics forbids coaches to sit, lie or stand on a gymnast and lets gymnasts stop any stretch beyond mild discomfort. The Whyte Review heard of overstretching to the point of distress, and slow, forced stretching tore hamstring tendons in professional dancers.
No trial of yoga for gymnasts' back pain has measured outcomes properly, and in the 13-gymnast study, back endurance improved more with stabilising exercises than with yoga. Back pain that lasts or is worse arching needs checking first.
Gymnasts already arch hard in walkovers and handsprings, back pain that's worse with them is the classic sign of spondylolysis, and about 14% of gymnasts have one. Yoga backbends add nothing there.
It's common, but in young gymnasts it goes with stress on the growth plate. The American Academy of Pediatrics says "Athletes should see a doctor if their wrists are swollen or painful the next day."
Too little energy for training harms health and performance in both sexes, the Whyte Review heard of weight management that left some gymnasts with eating disorders, and British Gymnastics now bars coaches from weighing gymnasts.
They train different things: gymnastics builds strength, power and skill at extreme ranges, and the yoga here is low-load control and recovery work (our reading).
It can be, as rest-day control work: wrists and shoulders, trunk endurance, balance and calm breathing. Most gymnasts are already very flexible, so the aim isn't more range, and no yoga trial in gymnasts has counted injuries.
Wrist circles and rocks, Y-T-W raises, dead bug and bird dog, a forearm side plank, small locust lifts, chair pose, warrior III and standing hand-to-big-toe held with your own muscles, tree pose and slow breathing. Our 25-minute class puts them together.
It can, but that's rarely what a gymnast needs. Range you can hold with your own muscles comes from strength at the end of your range and gentle stretching, and in a growth spurt British Gymnastics asks for keeping, not improving, flexibility.
Yes, if it builds control rather than range: keep elbows and knees soft and stop well short of your end range. Hypermobility hasn't predicted gymnastics injury either way, but the NHS says "do not overextend your joints just because you can".
It hasn't been tested. The one prevention trial in gymnastics, with strength and flexibility exercises, didn't reduce overuse injuries; training load, growth spurts and eating enough matter more.
Not until it's been checked: back pain worse with walkovers or handsprings, or lasting more than 2 weeks, can be a stress fracture. With a diagnosed fracture, early physiotherapy got young athletes back 38 days sooner than resting first; yoga can come later, without backbends.
No. Gymnastics already arches the back hard, stress fractures in the back of a vertebra are common in gymnasts, and nothing in yoga adds to that safely. Keep sphinx and locust small, or leave them out with back pain.
Gentle wrist movement is fine when wrists are pain-free. A wrist that's swollen or still sore the day after training needs a doctor and no weight on the hands, in yoga too.
They do different jobs, and many children enjoy both. Young gymnasts training more hours a week than their age should be watched for overuse and burnout, and our yoga for kids guide covers children's yoga.
Slow breathing helps many people settle, though it hasn't been tested in gymnasts; it raises heart rate variability in the moment. If anxiety is affecting your gymnastics or your life, talk to your GP or your club welfare officer.
No. British Gymnastics' policy says you must be able to ease off or stop any stretch beyond mild discomfort, and coaches must not sit, lie or stand on you. Report forced stretching to the club welfare officer or British Gymnastics.
Sit out at once, get checked within 24 hours, and follow the UK guidelines' graduated return, with no competition before day 21. Yoga waits too, with nothing head-down until you're cleared.
Exercise education, not a personal prescription, and clinical review of these guides is pending. If you are pregnant, have a health condition such as glaucoma, high blood pressure or osteoporosis, or have had recent surgery, check with a doctor, midwife or physiotherapist before starting, and stop for sharp or increasing pain. Health disclaimer.
