The man who broke his thigh bone doing YOGA: Severe injury is only normally seen in car crash victims, doctors say

  • Yoga enthusiast attempted to carry out a pose called Marichyasana B
  • This involves flexing the hip and knee into the opposite hip crease
  • Heard a loud crack, felt immense pain and was rushed to hospital
  • Discovered he had broken his thigh bone and needed surgery

A man suffered a painful break to his thigh bone while carrying out a yoga pose.

The 39-year-old man, who remains unidentified, had been practising yoga for two years, and had recently begun exploring Mysore-style Ashtanga yoga.

For the past eight weeks he had been doing an hour of yoga a day.  

In one morning class, he decided to carry out a stance known as the Marichyasana posture B, while unattended.

A man suffered a painful break to his thigh bone while carrying out a yoga pose called the Marichyasana posture B. He heard a loud crack and felt immense pain. Pictured is a model demonstrating the pose

A man suffered a painful break to his thigh bone while carrying out a yoga pose called the Marichyasana posture B. He heard a loud crack and felt immense pain. Pictured is a model demonstrating the pose

This involves putting the foot on to the thigh, and flexing the hip and knee to put the foot into the 'inguinal crease', the V-shaped line found below the abs.

To his horror, he heard a loud crack and felt immense pain in his left thigh bone, said doctors reporting the case in the journal BMJ Case reports.

‘He collapsed to the ground, was unable to put any weight on his leg, and was immediately brought to hospital by ambulance,’ the doctors wrote in the journal.

In the emergency department, doctors found the man’s lower limb was shorter than usual and had rotated due to the injury.

X-rays showed he had a fracture in his 'femoral shaft', the long, straight part of the thigh bone. 

Doctors said they believed this is the first documented case of a healthy person developing such a fracture while following a yoga stance. 

The thigh bone is the longest, strongest and heaviest bone in the human body, doctors said.

It acts as one of the main bones that bear’s the body’s weight.

Pictured is the Marichyasana posture  being demonstrated. It involves flexing the hip and knee to put the foot into the 'inguinal crease', the V-shaped line found below the abs

Pictured is the Marichyasana posture being demonstrated. It involves flexing the hip and knee to put the foot into the 'inguinal crease', the V-shaped line found below the abs

Most cases of thigh bone fractures are as a result of ‘high energy forces’, and, in the younger populations, are ‘commonly seen as a result of high-speed road traffic accidents’, they said.

Thigh bone fractures can result in life-threatening complications including internal bleeding, injury to the internal organs, infection of the wound.

He was sent for surgery in which a specially designed rod was inserted into the bone, passing across the fracture to keep it in position.

A nail was inserted through a small incision, and screwed to the bone at both ends, keeping the nail and bone in the proper position during healing.

Ten days after his surgery he was sent home, and five months later, he was able to walk completely free of pain, and had returned to yoga.

However, he said he was practising less strenuous poses.

‘Yoga-related injuries are becoming more commonplace,’ doctors concluded. 

THE MARICHYANASA B POSE 

With one leg straight, the opposite foot is pulled up into lotus position, as if cross legged. 

The straight leg is then bent, which stretches out crossed hip and knee.

The foot is put into the 'inguinal crease', the V-shaped line found below the abs

The hands are placed on the floor behind to prop the upper body up.

The ribcage is brought closer to the thigh to stretch the crossed knee.

The arms are stretched around the body to twist the torso, further stretching out the hips.

 

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