People with glaucoma are encouraged to exercise, but are told to avoid activities that risk increasing eye pressure, which could damage the optic nerve. Doctors warn against pushups and lifting heavy weights, and have some reservations about yoga. Several studies have investigated the effect of yoga poses on eye pressure, including one published Dec. 23, 2015 in the journal PloS One.

Previous studies have only investigated eye pressure during headstands; the most recent study looks at four poses where the participants’ heads are down: downward dog, standing forward bend, plow, and legs up the wall. Participants were broken into two groups, one group had glaucoma and the other was healthy with no eye-related disease. Researchers measured eye pressures of people in both groups before, during, and after all four poses.

In these four poses, all participants experienced a rapid rise in eye pressure that occurred within one to two minutes of beginning the pose. After participants returned to a seated position, eye pressure returned to values close to baseline numbers and remained at those levels after 10 minutes in a seated position.

Although there was little difference between the participants who had glaucoma and those with no eye-related disease, study authors encourage patients to use caution and also recommend further research into the effect of yoga on eye pressure. This is because any elevated eye pressure is a known risk for the development and progression of nerve damage to the eye—even short-lived increase in pressure that comes with yoga poses could potentially be problematic. Researchers also point out that the study size was small and a larger study could reveal greater variations than this one did.

While this study’s findings are not cause for alarm, if you have glaucoma or are at risk for it, there are a couple ways you can safeguard your health. First, talk to your doctor about your concerns and ask for advice tailored to your individual health needs. Also, let your yoga instructors know you have glaucoma or are concerned about the risks of increased eye pressure. Depending on your situation, they can help you find the safest way to do a pose or recommend a modification that will reduce the chance of increased eye pressure. (And don’t worry, modifications can be done in a way that will keep you safe without compromising the intensity of your workout!)

REFERENCE

Jasien, J. V., Jonas, J. B., de Moraes, C. G., & Ritch, R. (2015). Intraocular Pressure Rise in Subjects with and without Glaucoma during Four Common Yoga Positions. PloS one, 10(12), e0144505.