Yoga After A Fracture: What Mr Iyengar, The Yoga Doctors And The Research Say

Broke a wrist, a hip or a rib, and wondering how to get strong again, and how to lower the odds of a second break? One broken bone almost doubles the odds of another. Yoga works on both sides of that: getting you moving and breathing well after a break, and building the strong legs, steady feet and calm mind that keep you upright. This guide brings together what Mr BKS Iyengar’s teaching, the yoga doctors and the research say about yoga after a fracture, pranayama (yogic breathing), meditation and mindfulness. Last updated: 8 November 2026.

By Chris Lalor, Certified Senior Iyengar Yoga Teacher and certified Yoga Therapist, Flametree Yoga Darwin.

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Does yoga help after a fracture? The short answer

Yes. Yoga after a fracture helps you recover, and helps guard against the next break. In a trial of older people with broken hips, gentle upper-body yoga from the first week after surgery gave better lungs, a stronger cough and more independence than breathing exercises alone. In a Sydney pilot, Iyengar yoga improved balance, walking speed and getting up from a chair, the main risk factors for falls. And a yogic relaxation and breathing practice eased pain after a fresh break in the trial Dr Timothy McCall lists. For bones, balance and osteoporosis in general, our main guide is yoga for bone health, balance and falls.

Keep one thing in mind as you read. The trials on people with a broken bone tested yoga in general, taught by instructors with very different training from ours. Iyengar yoga has been tested once on this ground, in the Sydney balance pilot, and it did well. It has not yet been tested on people recovering from a break. Not yet tested is not the same as does not work. Iyengar teachers train for years and are assessed by a panel of senior teachers, and in our view as certified Iyengar teachers, well-taught Iyengar yoga is likely to go further than the average. Why the kind of yoga matters.

The bottom line: five key moves after a fracture

1. Keep the rest of you moving while the break knits. A wrist in plaster still leaves two legs, a spine and a breath to work with. Always follow the directions of any doctor you are consulting about the broken part, and tell your teacher.
2. Breathe well. A slow, full breath keeps the lungs clear when you are lying about more, and calms the pain and worry that come with a break.
3. Build strong legs and steady feet. Strong legs, flexibility and a steady mind decide whether a stumble becomes a fall. Standing poses build all three.
4. Load the bones again, gradually. Bone answers load. Standing poses load the legs and hips, and weight through the hands, built up slowly, loads the wrists and arms.
5. Start now. New to Flametree, or away 3 months or more? 2 free classes, then 10 at half price, in Darwin or LIVE online.

Who was Mr BKS Iyengar? Iyengar yoga is the style we teach at Flametree. During the 20th century, Mr BKS Iyengar was the major teacher who codified traditional Indian yoga, through his seminal books and widespread teaching. He also pioneered the use of props, so poses can be adapted to almost any body, including one with a limb in plaster. His style is sometimes called modern classical yoga. This guide is part of our encyclopaedia of yoga for health conditions.

This guide in short

• Overall evidence: Limited. Best study (single trial): Guo 2019, a trial of 84 people over 65 with a broken hip. A gentle upper-body yoga programme, started in the first week after surgery, gave better lung capacity, a stronger cough and more independence in daily tasks at 4 weeks than breathing exercises alone. Reviews of yoga for balance in older people, a related question, point the same way.
• The Iyengar approach: Mr Iyengar rebuilt his own practice after a severe accident in 1979, starting again with Triangle Pose “from the soles of my feet up”. Props let you practise around the injured part.
• Dr Timothy McCall, an American medical doctor and yoga therapist who studied with Mr BKS Iyengar, author of Yoga as Medicine: fractures are no. 34 on his list of conditions helped by yoga.
• Dr Loren Fishman, a New York medical doctor who studied with Mr Iyengar: a 12-minute daily routine of 12 poses, and bone density gains in those who kept it up.
• The research: about 20 studies listed below, for yoga, breathing, mindfulness and relaxation, on people with a break and on the risk of the next one.
• Nearby guides: bones, balance and falls (our main bones guide), yoga after surgery, chronic pain, knee and hip pain and back pain.
• Take it further: our free ebook Strong Bones, Steady Feet, the 2027 masterclasses, and classes in Darwin and online.

Broken bones: why one break matters for the next

A fracture is simply a broken bone, from a hairline crack to a clean break. Australians break about 173,000 bones a year (an estimate from Healthy Bones Australia). In people over 50 the common ones are the wrist, the hip (the top of the thigh bone), the spine (a squashed spine bone, called a compression fracture) and the ribs.

Here is why this guide is about the next break as much as this one. A review of 11 groups of people, more than 60,000 in all, found that a previous fracture almost doubles the risk of another (Kanis 2004). Thin bones are only part of it. The rest is whether a trip becomes a fall, and what hits the ground first.

Two facts from our main bones guide explain why the wrist and hip break so often. In a fall, the hand and forearm usually hit the ground first. And the top of the thigh bone below the hip ball (the femoral neck) is thinner on top than a credit card. So we load the legs, hips, hands and arms, and we train balance. More in yoga for bone health, balance and falls.

Yoga after a fracture: what helps, stage by stage

Every break is different, so the first rule is simple. Always follow the directions of any doctor you are consulting about when the broken part can move and bear weight again, and tell your teacher what you broke, when, and what you have been told. Within that, there is a lot yoga can do at every stage.

• While the break knits (in plaster, a brace or a sling). Breathe well: a slow, full breath keeps the lungs working when you are less active, and calms pain and worry. Keep the rest of the body moving: with a wrist in plaster, the legs and spine can still work in standing poses done beside a wall or chair. Lying poses with the legs supported rest a tired body.
• When the plaster comes off, or after surgery. The joint above and below the break is usually stiff and the muscles are weak. Gentle range of movement, with props, comes back first. Weight goes back on gradually: a hand on a chair before a hand on the floor.
• Back to a full class. Standing poses rebuild leg strength and balance, and weight-bearing poses on the hands, built up slowly, load the wrists and arms. Now the work turns to the next break: strong legs, steady feet and a steady mind.

Wrist, hip, spine and ribs each have their own points.

• A broken wrist. In a study of 31 regular yoga students who had a broken wrist plated, 9 in 10 went back to yoga, most at the same or a better level (Goyal 2019). Weight came back on the hands at about 7 months on average. Our guide to wrist and hand pain covers the props that take strain off the wrist.
• A broken hip. Strong standing poses, with the wall or a chair close by, rebuild the legs and hips. Our guide to knee and hip pain and joint replacement covers the hip itself, and yoga after surgery covers the weeks around an operation.
• A broken spine bone. Length before bend. Rounded forward bends under load are left out (see “Take care” below). Our back pain guide and the rounded upper back guide go further.
• Broken ribs. The breath is where the work starts: a slow, comfortable breath, never forced, with the chest supported on a bolster or blankets when that is comfortable.

“These injuries made me a humble disciple of yoga, a better teacher and an encouraging performer.”

What Mr BKS Iyengar taught

In short: rebuild from the feet up, adapt the pose to the body in front of you, and keep practising.

Mr Iyengar knew injury from the inside. In Light on Life (Kindle edition, chapter “Bliss: The Divine Body”) he describes a severe accident in 1979 that took away much of his physical practice. He started again, and wrote that re-learning Triangle Pose (Trikonasana) “from the soles of my feet up” made him a master of teaching it in a way he never was before. That is the order we follow after a break: feet first, then legs, then the spine and arms.

His props grew out of the same thinking. A chair, a wall, a belt or a block lets a pose be done with part of the body supported or left out, so a student with a wrist in plaster, or a hip that will not yet take full weight, can still practise. He also warned that injury comes from the way a pose is done, not from yoga itself, which is why a break is a time to work steadily, never aggressively.

“It is not yoga that injures, but it is the way one does yoga that leads to injury.”

What Dr Timothy McCall says

In short: fractures are no. 34 on his list of 117 conditions helped by yoga, and the trial behind it used a yogic relaxation and breathing practice.

Dr McCall, an American medical doctor who studied with Mr Iyengar, listed fractures in his June 2019 list of 117 health conditions helped by yoga. The study he gives for it is a trial from Bengaluru, India, of 30 people aged 18 to 55 with a fresh, simple break in plaster (Oswal 2011). Half added a yogic relaxation practice of slow breathing, chanting and guided imagery, 30 minutes twice a day. After three weeks, pain had fallen by 94.5% in the yoga group against 58.6% without it, tenderness fell further too, and on X-ray the break had knitted further.

In Yoga as Medicine, as our main bones guide reports, Dr McCall passes on cautions for a broken spine bone (a compression fracture): forward bends, especially seated ones, are left out, along with knee-to-chest work, straight leg raises and jumping between poses.

What Dr Loren Fishman says

In short: 12 poses, about 12 minutes a day, and bone density rose in those who kept it up.

Dr Fishman is a New York rehabilitation physician on the Columbia University medical faculty who spent a year in Pune with Mr Iyengar. He designed a routine of 12 poses held for about 12 minutes in all, and followed 741 volunteers for up to ten years. In the 227 who kept it up well, bone density rose in the spine and the thigh bone, with no serious yoga injuries (Lu 2016). There was no comparison group, so it is early work, but it points the same way as the trials of exercise for bone. He sets out the routine in a 2021 paper for orthopaedic nurses, adding that yoga also builds balance, posture, range of motion, strength and coordination, all of which bear on falls and fractures.

In his view, weight-bearing poses such as Downward-Facing Dog load the bones of the arms and wrists in a way much other exercise does not. After a broken wrist, that is the goal to work back towards, gradually, with the hands on a chair or a wall first.

“Density in bones is a virtue, but in brains it is a vice.”

Other yoga voices: feet, reflexes and a steady mind

In short: whether a trip becomes a fall depends on strong legs, flexibility and a steady mind.

Geeta S Iyengar, Mr Iyengar’s daughter and a senior teacher in her own right, taught spreading the weight evenly through the four corners of each foot. Wide-legged standing poses and the Warrior poses, done this way, build the quick reflexes that catch a stumble before it becomes a fall. She also taught that bone loss after menopause shows first in the hips and legs, so the legs come first.

This is Flametree’s settled view, set out in full in our bones guide: strong legs, flexibility and mindset decide falls. Strong legs catch you. Free hips and ankles let the foot step out in time. And a calm, attentive mind notices the kerb, the wet tile and the carpark speed bump, and does not freeze with fear once you have fallen before.

We have not found material on fractures from Dr Krishna Raman or Dr J. T. Shah, the other medical doctors who worked with Mr Iyengar.

A teacher’s own story: a spine fracture after ten years of strong practice

Marisó de Colsa, president of the Iyengar Yoga Association of the Southeast (IYASE), tells her own story in “Adapting Our Practice as We Age: Taking Osteoporosis Seriously” (IYASE blog, September 2023). After ten years of strong practice, including deep forward bends, she had a compression fracture of a vertebra in her mid-back (T9). Her lesson, in our words, is that bone density numbers can mislead, and that practice can go on if it is shaped with care. She holds weight-bearing poses for 30 seconds or more, with the muscles hugging the bone. She now leaves out deep or rounded forward bends, forceful or unlengthened twists, and extreme backbends, and takes inversions only if the back stays long. These are her own rules from her own experience, not the Iyengars’ rules. She cites Dr Loren Fishman.

What the research shows

The research falls into two parts: studies of people recovering from a break, and studies of the things that decide the next one (balance, legs and bone). Each line gives the finding first. Studies of yoga in general are called yoga; the Iyengar trial is named as Iyengar. Why the kind of yoga matters.

Yoga for people recovering from a break

• After a broken hip, gentle upper-body yoga gave better lung capacity, a stronger cough and more independence in daily tasks than breathing exercises alone. It started in the first week after surgery and ran for 4 weeks. One person in the breathing group got pneumonia and nobody in the yoga group, and more people preferred the yoga. Guo 2019, a trial of 84 people over 65 in China. Read the study.
• After a broken spine bone, mindfulness and gentle medical yoga improved sleep, stress and social life. Once a week for 10 weeks, added to education about osteoporosis; pain itself did not change, and there were no ill effects. Grahn Kronhed 2020, an early pilot of 20 people aged 60 and over in Sweden. Read the study.
• People with broken spine bones had less pain, used fewer painkillers and had better balance a year later. Education with either exercise or mindfulness and medical yoga, once a week for 10 weeks; any painkiller use fell from 70% to 52%. The groups were pooled, so this is not yoga alone. Spångeus 2023, an early pilot with 21 people followed for a year. Read the study.
• 9 in 10 regular yoga students went back to yoga after a broken wrist was plated, two thirds at the same or a better level. On average they were back to some yoga at about 6 months and taking weight on the hands at about 7 months. Goyal 2019, a survey of 31 people in Chicago. Read the study.

The Iyengar yoga trial: balance and the next fall

This trial tested Iyengar yoga taught by a trained Iyengar teacher.

• Iyengar yoga improved balance, walking speed and getting up from a chair, the main risk factors for falls. Compared with a booklet alone, the yoga group stood up from a chair 3.4 seconds faster, walked 4 metres half a second faster, and stood on one leg with the eyes closed almost 2 seconds longer. Twice a week for 12 weeks, mostly standing poses; people came to 20 of 24 classes, with no serious problems. Tiedemann 2013, a Sydney pilot of 54 people with an average age of 68. Read the study.

Yoga for balance, legs and bone: the next break

• Almost every trial found better balance with yoga. Static balance improved clearly where yoga was compared with no exercise; the styles included Iyengar yoga. The effect on bone density was still unclear. Bajaj 2024, a review of 18 trials and 1,408 people. Read the study.
• Yoga improved balance and everyday mobility in people aged 60 and over. Youkhana 2016, a review of 6 trials and 307 people, from Sydney researchers. Read the study.
• After 12 weeks of yoga, women aged 50 to 70 had better one-leg balance, stronger legs and faster arm reactions. The quick arm reaction is what softens a forward fall, the fall that breaks wrists. Twice a week, measured against a 12-week period without yoga. Arnold 2025, a study of 36 women. Read the study.
• Bone density rose in the spine and thigh bone in people who kept up a 12-minute daily yoga routine. No serious yoga injuries. There was no comparison group. Lu 2016, Dr Fishman’s report on 741 people over up to 10 years, 227 of whom kept it up well. Read the study.
• Mind-body exercise, yoga among it, combined with strength work gave the most consistent bone gains at the spine and hip. Programmes of a year or more did best. Zhou 2026, a review of 74 trials and 5,331 women after menopause. Read the study.

Pranayama and breathing

• A yogic relaxation practice of slow breathing, chanting and guided imagery eased pain and tenderness after a fresh break, and the break knitted further on X-ray. Added to plaster, 30 minutes twice a day for 2 weeks; pain fell 94.5% against 58.6%. Swelling went down in both groups. Oswal 2011, a trial of 30 people in Bengaluru, the study on Dr McCall’s list. Read the study.

In the broken hip trial above, the comparison group did breathing exercises, and the yoga group, which moved the arms and chest as well, did better. No trial has yet tested pranayama alone, such as staircase breath (Viloma) or ocean breath (Ujjayi), after a fracture. We teach a slow, smooth breath through the nose, step by step, and leave out fast, forceful breathing in the early weeks.

Meditation, mindfulness and relaxation

• After a broken bone or other orthopaedic injury, a four-session mind-body course eased pain and low mood and improved physical function, still there 3 months on. Mindfulness skills were part of the course, and mindfulness scores rose. Vranceanu 2024, a trial of 195 adults at four trauma centres in the United States. Read the study.
• The gains in function came through less fear of pain and less dwelling on it. Gnall 2024, a further analysis of the same 195 people. Read the study.
• Progressive muscle relaxation after a broken hip eased pain and anxiety and improved sleep. Three nights before bed, starting the night after surgery. Mashhadi-Naser 2024, a trial of 100 people in Tehran. Read the study.
• Daily progressive muscle relaxation before surgery for a broken arm or leg eased anxiety and built confidence. Xie 2014, a trial of 84 people in China. Read the study.

Related research: exercise in general, not yoga

These studies tested exercise of many kinds, not yoga. We list them because they show what kind of work matters after a break: balance, standing and everyday movement, which is what yoga’s standing poses are.

• Exercise cut the rate of falls by about a quarter, and probably cut fall-related fractures too. Balance and functional exercise did most. Sherrington 2019, a Cochrane review of 108 trials and 23,407 people, led from Sydney. Read the study.
• After a broken hip, exercise improved physical function and mobility; strength and everyday movement work did most. Zhang 2021, a review of 12 trials and 1,198 people. Read the study.
• More intensive exercise early after hip fracture surgery improved function, balance and daily living more than regular or no exercise. Bai 2023, a review of 15 studies. Read the study.

Take care: what to leave out

With thin bones, and above all with a broken spine bone, deep rounding of the spine under load is left out. A review of yoga in people at risk of fracture found two series of case reports of spine fractures linked with deep forward bending (Kim 2021). So forward bends are done from the hips with a long spine, and fast or jumping moves wait. Read the review. Tell your teacher what you broke, and the poses are changed for you.

What the research does not yet tell us

The trials on people with a break are few, mostly early, and from hospitals in China, India and Sweden. No trial has yet tested Iyengar yoga on people recovering from a fracture, or pranayama alone. The strongest yoga evidence is on balance, the risk factor for the next break. Not yet tested is not the same as does not work, and the tradition’s long experience of rebuilding after injury points the same way.

Yoga, pranayama and mindfulness: how they work together

Several of the fracture studies above tested a mindfulness course, muscle relaxation or a yogic relaxation and breathing practice, not yoga poses. That still counts for our classes. Mindfulness is steady, present attention, and yoga poses and pranayama (yogic breathing) are old routes to that same state. So the studies where calming the mind eased pain and fear after a break also show what a good yoga and pranayama class can build. No trial separates which part does the work.

We suggest coming to both a yoga class and a pranayama class. Mr Iyengar taught that asana (poses), pranayama and meditation are not divided, and in our experience the two together do more than either alone. See every class time. We trace the history and the links in Yoga And Mindfulness: Why The Mindfulness Research Points Back To Yoga And The Breath.

How this comes together in a Flametree class

Everything above points the same way, and it is how we teach yoga after a fracture in Darwin and online.

• Tell your teacher first. What you broke, when, and what you have been told. The class is changed around it.
• Standing poses at the heart of it, with the wall or a chair close by: strong legs, free hips and ankles, and weight spread through the four corners of each foot.
• Props in every class: chairs, belts, blocks, blankets, bolsters, the wall and the ropes, so you can practise around a healing wrist, hip or rib.
• Weight on the hands, built up slowly, from a chair to the wall to the floor, as your wrist allows.
• Forward bends from the hips, spine long, never rounded under load.
• Breath and rest: every class ends with supported rest, and our pranayama classes teach a slow, smooth breath step by step.
• Gentler days: our gentle yoga and restorative yoga classes suit the early weeks after a break.

See the timetable and book a class. Always follow the directions of any doctor you are consulting about the broken part, and tell your teacher.

Read more on bones, balance and recovery

• Yoga for bone health, balance and falls: our main bones guide, with osteoporosis, bone density and the Sydney trial in full
• Yoga after surgery, and before it: the weeks around an operation
• Chronic pain: when pain lingers after a break has knitted
• Knee and hip pain, and joint replacement
• Back pain, and the rounded upper back that can follow spine fractures
• Wrist and hand pain
• Iyengar falls yoga studies, how to improve balance after 50 and weight bearing exercises for osteoporosis

Take it further

This guide gives you the facts on what helps. The ebook to start with is our bones and balance book, with the Sydney trial in full and the stories of students it has helped. Go and do the free classes, see what you think, and then a pass puts it all into action.

• Classes, in Darwin or LIVE online: new, or away 3 months or more? 2 free classes, then 10 at half price. Already practising yoga? See the non-beginner half price pass. See the timetable and book.
• Masterclasses: arthritis (strong standing poses for the hips and knees, and props that take the strain off a joint) and backs (length before bend) are two of our 2027 Sunday Arvo Masterclasses with Chris Lalor. Come for the poses, the sequences and the pranayama. Bookings are open.
• Retreats: a week of daily, adapted yoga in Bali. See the retreats.

Other conditions are in our encyclopaedia of yoga for health conditions.

Yoga after a fracture: questions people ask

Is yoga good after a fracture?

Yes. After a broken hip, gentle upper-body yoga from the first week after surgery gave better lungs, a stronger cough and more independence than breathing exercises alone (Guo 2019, 84 people). After a fresh break, a yogic relaxation and breathing practice eased pain further than plaster alone (Oswal 2011). And Iyengar yoga improved balance, walking speed and getting up from a chair, the main risk factors for the next fall (Tiedemann 2013).

When can I start yoga after a broken bone?

Always follow the directions of any doctor you are consulting about when to start, and when the broken part can move and take weight again, and tell your teacher what you broke and when. Within that, the breath and the parts of the body that are not broken are where the work begins, and the broken part comes back in stages.

Can yoga cure a broken bone?

No. A broken bone knits in its own time. What yoga can do is keep the rest of you moving and breathing well while it knits, rebuild strength, balance and range once it has, and build the strong legs and steady feet that guard against the next break.

Can I do yoga with a broken wrist?

Yes, around it. With a wrist in plaster, standing poses, lying poses and breathing all carry on, with the hand left out. Once the wrist is allowed to take weight, it goes back on gradually: a chair, then the wall, then the floor. In a survey of 31 yoga students whose broken wrist was plated, 9 in 10 went back to yoga (Goyal 2019).

Is yoga safe after a spine fracture?

Yes, when it is adapted. Bend forward from the hips with a long spine and leave out rounded forward bends under load, knee-to-chest work and jumping, as Dr McCall advises with a compression fracture. In two Swedish pilots of people with broken spine bones, mindfulness and gentle medical yoga improved sleep, stress and social life, with no ill effects. Tell your teacher.

Can yoga lower the risk of another fracture?

It works on the things that decide one. A first fracture almost doubles the risk of another (Kanis 2004). In a Sydney pilot, Iyengar yoga improved balance, walking speed and getting up from a chair, the main risk factors for falls, and in reviews almost every trial found better balance with yoga. Bone density rose in people who kept up Dr Fishman’s daily yoga routine (Lu 2016).

Does breathing help pain after a broken bone?

Yes. In the trial on Dr McCall’s list, a yogic relaxation practice of slow breathing, chanting and imagery cut pain by 94.5% after three weeks, against 58.6% with plaster alone (Oswal 2011). Muscle relaxation after a broken hip eased pain and anxiety and helped sleep (Mashhadi-Naser 2024). We teach a slow, smooth breath, step by step, in our pranayama classes.

What is the best exercise after a broken bone?

Work that builds the legs, balance and everyday movement. Reviews of exercise after a broken hip found strength and everyday movement work did most, and balance and functional exercise cut falls by about a quarter (Sherrington 2019). Yoga’s standing poses do exactly that kind of work, with props so they can be adapted to a healing body, and the breath and mindfulness that ease pain and fear.

Can I do yoga after a fracture in Darwin or online?

Yes. Flametree Yoga teaches Iyengar yoga in Woolner and Coolalinga in Darwin, and LIVE online, with gentle and restorative classes and pranayama classes for the breath. New students can begin with our new-student offer of 2 free classes, then 10 at half price. Book a class

Where this comes from: BKS Iyengar, Light on Life (Kindle edition), chapters “Stability: The Physical Body” and “Bliss: The Divine Body”; Astadala Yogamala, volume 7. Geeta S Iyengar, as reported in our bones and balance guide. Timothy McCall MD, his June 2019 list of 117 health conditions helped by yoga and its bibliography (no. 34), and his cautions as reported in our bones and balance guide. Loren Fishman MD, Lu 2016 and Fishman 2021 (Orthopaedic Nursing). Healthy Bones Australia, media release, September 2022. Kanis 2004, Kim 2021 and the other studies as linked above, each looked up in PubMed in November 2026. Everything is summarised in our own words.

This page is general information, not medical advice. Flametree Yoga Studio, Darwin and LIVE online.