5 Yoga Poses to Avoid With Osteoporosis (and What to Do Instead)

Maintaining a strong and flexible body is essential for everyone, and yoga can be a great way to do that at any age. But if you have osteoporosis, a yoga practice requires careful consideration — and consultation with your doctor — of poses to embrace and poses to avoid.

"In general, avoid poses that require you to rotate your spine (twisting poses), poses that require you to flex your spine (bending forward and rounding your spine) and poses that require side bending," Tara Salay, PT, DPT, RYT-500, physical therapist and yoga teacher, tells LIVESTRONG.com

Instead, stick to poses that maintain a relatively neutral or straight spinal position throughout.

Yes! If you have osteoporosis, you should know that yoga can help prevent and reverse bone loss, according to the National Association of Orthopaedic Nurses.

Certain poses cause muscles to pull on the bones they attach to. In turn, this stimulates cells called osteoblasts to build bone strength in these potentially weaker areas.

Yoga can also helps improve your balance, lessening your risk of a fracture-inducing fall.

"People with osteoporosis have decreased bone mineral density, which puts them at increased risk of fractures," Carolyn Wright, PT, DPT, yoga teacher and physical therapist with Bespoke Treatments in San Diego, tells LIVESTRONG.com.

"Yoga can improve balance, mobility, strength and coordination. These benefits lead to decreased risk of falling and fractures."

Here are five poses that should be avoided with osteoporosis —- and what poses you can swap in.

Plow pose is done by lying on your back and lifting your hips toward the ceiling as you attempt to bring your toes over your head and onto the floor.

However, "aggressive spinal flexion poses may increase risk of compression fractures," Wright says. And depending on the severity of your osteoporosis, you may even want to avoid mild spinal flexion poses as well, she says.

The seated twist pose is a deep twist, often with legs crossed, done by twisting your torso to the side. This type of pose, which facilitates end-range spinal rotation, is also not appropriate for individuals with osteoporosis.

This is because twisting motions place excessive pressure on the spine and can increase the risk of fracture.

Instead, Salay recommends that you try supine bound angle. Just make sure to avoid forcing your hips to the end of their range of motion by supporting your knees with blocks, bolsters or blankets.

Seated forward fold is meant to improve hamstring flexibility and low-back range of motion. It's performed by sitting with your legs straight and reaching for your toes as you allow your back to round.

"But this puts a lot of pressure on the part of the spine where the bone density is usually weakest," Salay says.

If improving your hamstring flexibility is your primary goals with this pose, lie on the ground with one leg straight along the floor and the other up in the air, holding onto that foot with a yoga strap, until you feel a pull in the back of the leg.

Otherwise, you can also substitute sphinx pose, Salay says. (See above for instructions.)

"Avoid aggressive backbend poses, such as wheel or bow, which can place increased compression on the spine," Wright says. "Instead, focus on mild backbends and chest openers, like restorative chest openers, bridge, baby cobra and sphinx."

One look at this yoga pose, and it's obvious why you should avoid it if you have osteoporosis.

"You should avoid inversions [like headstand], as they put a lot of pressure on the neck and spine," Salay says.

And if you haven't been previously practicing other inversions, it's not the time to start.

"Avoid starting a new inversion practice which can place excessive stress through the spine and can lead to injuries if not performed safely," Wright says. "Focus on mild inversions, such as legs up the wall."

Keeping safe and injury-free relies on removing or modifying certain yoga poses, but keeping healthy and strong relies on the poses you ‌do‌ practice.

"Focus on poses that improve overall strength, such as warrior II, poses that involve bearing weight through your hands, like tabletop, and those that improve your balance, such as tree pose," Wright says.