Yoga, and your bones.
- Santosha Yoga
- Sep 25, 2025
- 2 min read
When most people think of yoga, they picture flexibility, relaxation, and maybe even stress relief. But did you know yoga also has a powerful impact on your bones? Beyond calming the mind and stretching muscles, yoga can play an important role in keeping your bones strong, healthy, and resilient as you age.
Here are some of the key ways yoga supports bone health:
1. Builds Bone Density with Weight-Bearing Poses. Many yoga postures require you to support your body weight, such as Downward Dog, Warrior poses, or Plank. This kind of weight-bearing activity stimulates bone remodelling, encouraging bones to stay strong and dense. Over time, this can help reduce the risk of osteoporosis and fractures.
2. Improves Balance and Prevents Falls Yoga enhances balance, coordination, and proprioception (your awareness of where your body is in space). These improvements dramatically reduce your risk of falling, one of the leading causes of bone fractures in older adults.
3. Strengthens Muscles to Support Bones. Strong muscles act as shock absorbers and stabilizers for your bones. By strengthening muscle groups around major joints and the spine, yoga reduces strain and supports skeletal alignment.
4. Protects Spinal Health and Posture. Yoga poses that lengthen, align, and strengthen the spine help counteract compression and poor posture. This is especially valuable for preventing spinal fractures and maintaining mobility as we age.
5. Reduces Inflammation: Chronic inflammation can disrupt the balance of bone breakdown and rebuilding. Through gentle movement, breathing, and relaxation, yoga may lower systemic inflammation and support healthier bone turnover.
6. Supports Joint and Cartilage Function. By guiding joints through their full range of motion, yoga keeps them lubricated and reduces stiffness. Healthy joints reduce uneven stress on bones, protecting them in the long run.
The Bottom Line Yoga isn’t just about flexibility or relaxation; it’s also a powerful, low-impact way to protect your bones. Whether you’re looking to prevent osteoporosis, improve posture, or simply keep your body strong and mobile, yoga can be an essential part of your routine.
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