Women’s Flexibility Is a Liability in Yoga
女體柔軟 練瑜伽易受傷
By William Broad

The bending, stretching and deep breathing of yoga can renew, calm, heal, strengthen, lift moods, lower the risk of heart disease, increase flexibility and balance, counter aging and improve sex.
瑜伽的彎曲、伸展和深呼吸動作，可更新、平靜、治療、強化和提升情緒，也可減少心臟疾病，提高柔軟度、平衡能力，對抗老化與改善性生活。

But earlier this year, a prominent yoga teacher in Hawaii wrote me about a poorly known threat to women.
可是今年初一位夏威夷知名的瑜伽老師寫信給我，提到女性承受一項鮮為人知的威脅。

The teacher, Michaelle Edwards, said that women’s elasticity became a liability when extreme bends resulted in serious wear and tear on their hips. Over time, she said, the chronic stress could develop into agonizing pain and, in some cases, the need for urgent hip repairs.
蜜雪兒‧愛德華茲老師說，極度彎曲會使髖骨嚴重磨損，女性身體柔軟的優點這時候反成了缺點。她說，假以時日，長期受壓可能導致極度的痛楚，有些人髖骨還需要緊急修復。

I found that some of the nation’s top surgeons declared the trouble to be real – so real that hundreds of women who did yoga were showing up in their offices with unbearable pain and undergoing costly operations to mend or even replace their hips.
我發現，國內一些頂尖外科醫生宣告這個問題確實存在，真實到有數百名練瑜伽的婦女，帶著難以忍受的疼痛登門求診，接受昂貴的手術治療，甚至置換髖關節。

“It’s a relatively high incidence of injury,” Jon Hyman, an orthopedic surgeon in Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. Hyman said his typical yoga patient was a middle-aged woman, adding that he saw roughly 100 a year. “People need to be aware,” he said. “If they’re doing things like yoga and have pain in the hips, they shouldn’t blow it off.”
喬治亞州亞特蘭大市骨科醫師海曼說：「它是發生率相對較高的一種傷害。」海曼說，他的瑜伽病患以中年婦女居多，而他每年約有百名這樣的患者。他說：「人們必須知道，從事瑜伽這類活動時，覺得髖部疼痛，就不該勉強。」

Bryan T. Kelly, an orthopedic surgeon at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York, said yoga postures were well known for throwing hips into extremes.
紐約特殊手術醫院的骨科醫師凱利說，瑜伽姿勢眾所周知，是將髖部拉扯到極致。

Medical researchers in Switzerland pinpointed the origin of the hip trouble more than a decade ago. Arthritis is usually associated with old age, but they discovered it can also strike the young and active.
瑞士醫學研究人員十幾年前就精確指出髖部問題的根源。關節炎通常與年老有關，但他們發現年輕、活躍的人也會罹患關節炎。

Women’s hips showed particular vulnerability. By nature, their pelvic regions support an unusually wide range of joint play that can increase not only their proficiency in yoga but, it turned out, their health risks. The investigators found that extreme leg motions could cause the hip bones to repeatedly strike each other, leading over time to damaged cartilage, inflammation, pain and crippling arthritis. They called it Femoroacetabular Impingement – or F.A.I., in medical shorthand.
女性的髖部特別脆弱。女性的骨盆區天生就支撐著範圍異常廣大的關節副動作，它雖提高做瑜伽的能力，但是結果證實，它也成為健康的風險。研究者發現，極端的腿部動作可能使髖骨彼此反覆撞擊，長期下來，會造成軟骨受損、發炎、疼痛，以及影響行動能力的關節炎。醫學上稱為「股骨髖臼撞擊」，簡寫為F.A.I.。

Reinhold Ganz, an orthopedic surgeon at the University of Berne, in Switzerland noted in a 2008 report that women between 30 and 40 years of age whose activities made “high demands on motion” tended to show the hip damage more often. The paper specifically cited yoga.
瑞士伯恩大學骨科醫師甘茲2008年發表報告指出，30到40歲，從事「大量運動需求」活動的女性，較常出現髖部受損。報告特別提及瑜伽。

I found that hundreds of orthopedic surgeons in the Mediterranean region heard a presentation in 2010 that linked F.A.I. to middle-aged women who do yoga.
我發現，地中海地區有數百名骨科醫生2010年出席一項會議，聽取F.A.I.與做瑜伽中年婦女關聯性的報告。

Michael J. Taunton, an orthopedic surgeon at the Mayo Clinic, in Minnesota, said he annually performs 10 to 15 hip replacements on people who do yoga. About 90 percent, he added, are women.
美國明尼蘇達州梅約診所骨科醫師湯頓說，他每年替10到15名練瑜伽的人動髖關節置換手術。他說，大約九成是女性。

But one complication is that yoga probably does help millions of people cope with arthritis. Scientists have long said that yoga can help fight joint inflammation.
有一點比較複雜，練瑜伽大概是數百萬人對付關節炎的方法。科學家早就說過瑜伽有助消除關節發炎。

Gentle yoga probably helps the hips, too. But, as Dr. Taunton put it, the bending can become “too much of a good thing.”
溫和的瑜伽很可能對於髖部也有益處。但是，正如湯頓所說，彎曲可能「過猶不及，做過了火反而有害」。

Ms. Edwards, the yoga teacher in Hawaii, said she warns practitioners to be cautious if doing seated forward bends, standing forward bends and forward lunges – moves that can force the neck of the femur into the socket’s rim.
夏威夷那位瑜伽老師艾德華茲說，她提醒練瑜伽的人，在做坐著前彎、站立前彎和前跨步動作時，務必謹慎從事，這些動作可能迫使股骨的頸骨進入髖臼邊緣。

Unfortunately, yoga teachers too often encourage students to “push through the pain.” That’s not smart. Pain is nature’s warning system, saying something has gone awry.
不幸的是，瑜伽老師太常鼓勵學生「忍痛撐下去」。這並不明智。疼痛是自然的警告系統，告訴你出問題了。

Better to listen to your body. That temple is your best teacher.
務必要傾聽你的身體。那個神殿是你的最佳良師。

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/03/sunday-review/womens-flexibility-is-a-liability-in-yoga.html

2013-12-31聯合報/G9版/UNITEDDAILYNEWS王麗娟譯 原文參見紐時週報十一版上