If you have glaucoma, the exercises most important to avoid are those that raise pressure inside your eyes: inverted positions, heavy lifting with breath-holding, and certain yoga poses where your head drops below your heart. The good news is that most physical activity is not only safe but actively helpful for managing the condition, so the list of what to skip is shorter than the list of what to keep doing.
Why Exercise Affects Eye Pressure
Glaucoma damages the optic nerve, and elevated intraocular pressure (IOP) is the primary risk factor. Certain body positions and breathing patterns can spike that pressure quickly. Any time your head is lower than your heart, blood pools in the veins around your eyes and fluid drainage slows, pushing IOP up. Similarly, holding your breath while straining (the Valsalva maneuver) traps pressure in your chest and redirects it to your head and eyes. These two mechanisms explain nearly every exercise on the “avoid” list.
Yoga Inversions Cause the Largest Spikes
A study published in PLOS One measured eye pressure during four common yoga poses in both glaucoma patients and healthy controls. Downward-facing dog produced the biggest jump: IOP rose from about 17 mmHg to 28 mmHg in glaucoma patients after just two minutes, a spike of roughly 11 points. Standing forward fold came in close behind, pushing pressure from 17 to 27 mmHg. Plow pose raised it by about 6 points, and legs-up-the-wall by about 4.
To put those numbers in context, normal IOP sits between 10 and 21 mmHg. A jump to 28 mmHg is well above the threshold most ophthalmologists want to avoid. Headstands and shoulderstands, which weren’t even included in that study because they’re considered too risky, would likely produce even higher readings. Robert Ritch, a glaucoma specialist frequently cited by the American Academy of Ophthalmology, has called headstands and shoulderstands “a real no-no for glaucoma patients, especially if you’re going to do them for 20 minutes a day.”
Poses to avoid or modify include:
- Headstand and shoulderstand: the most extreme inversions, placing your full body weight above your eyes
- Downward-facing dog: head well below the heart, with the largest measured IOP spike
- Standing forward fold: similar head-below-heart position
- Plow pose: compresses the neck and chest while inverted
- Legs up the wall: lower risk than full inversions but still raises IOP measurably
If you want to keep practicing yoga, work with an instructor willing to substitute or modify inverted poses. Enter any inversion slowly, keep breathing steadily (never hold your breath), and avoid restricting your exhale. Styles like Iyengar yoga, which emphasize props and adapted postures, are a practical fit.
Heavy Weightlifting and the Valsalva Maneuver
The biggest risk with resistance training isn’t the weight itself. It’s how you breathe while lifting it. The Valsalva maneuver, where you clamp your mouth shut and bear down during a heavy rep, can spike eye pressure dramatically. Bench pressing with breath-holding raises IOP significantly more than the same lift performed with steady exhaling.
This doesn’t mean you have to quit the gym. The key is to exhale during the hardest part of every rep and avoid maximal-effort lifts that force you to hold your breath. Moderate loads where you can maintain a normal breathing rhythm are far less likely to cause dangerous pressure spikes. If you have mild glaucoma, most ophthalmologists will clear you for a normal strength routine with that breathing adjustment. If your glaucoma is advanced, it’s worth discussing specific limits with your eye doctor. One specialist at the AAO noted a patient who lost remaining vision during a crunch, and push-ups can also raise IOP because of the head-down position combined with straining.
Isometric Holds Raise Pressure Temporarily
Exercises like wall sits, planks, and static biceps holds involve sustained muscle contractions that progressively increase eye pressure while you’re holding the position. A 2025 study found that both a mid-thigh pull and a biceps curl hold raised IOP, with higher-intensity efforts producing bigger spikes. The reassuring finding: pressure returned to baseline quickly once the effort stopped.
Interestingly, glaucoma patients in that study actually showed smaller IOP increases during high-intensity isometric holds (about 2.6 mmHg) compared to people without glaucoma (about 5.1 mmHg). Researchers concluded that isometric exercises can be included in a training plan for glaucoma patients if intensity is managed carefully. Keep the effort moderate, avoid combining holds with breath-holding, and take rest breaks between sets.
A Special Concern for Pigmentary Glaucoma
If you have pigmentary dispersion syndrome or pigmentary glaucoma, high-impact, jarring activities like running and jumping deserve extra attention. In this type of glaucoma, pigment granules from the iris shake loose and clog the eye’s drainage system. Bouncing movements can accelerate that process, releasing more pigment into the front of the eye and triggering pressure spikes.
This doesn’t necessarily mean you need to stop running. Researchers who studied jogging in these patients recommended getting an evaluation before and after your typical workout. Your eye doctor can check whether significant pigment dispersion is occurring during exercise. If it is, medication can sometimes prevent it, making continued activity possible without switching to lower-impact alternatives like cycling or swimming.
Swimming Goggles and Eye Pressure
Swimming itself is fine for most glaucoma patients, but tight-fitting goggles create mechanical pressure on the tissue around your eye socket, slightly compressing the eyeball. Research published in Scientific Reports found that wearing goggles raised IOP by about 1 mmHg on average, with the increase appearing within the first minute and resolving quickly after removal.
A 1 mmHg bump is small, but for someone whose pressure is already borderline, it adds up over a long swim session. Choose goggles with larger, smoother edges that distribute pressure more evenly across the orbital rim rather than small, tight-fitting racing goggles. Make sure the strap isn’t overtightened, and remove your goggles periodically during longer sessions.
Aerobic Exercise Actually Helps
While certain activities raise eye pressure, regular aerobic exercise consistently lowers it. Walking, jogging, and cycling all produce a modest but real IOP reduction after about 15 to 20 minutes of sustained effort. In a clinical trial of glaucoma patients, 10 minutes of moderate cycling dropped average IOP from 19 to about 16.4 mmHg, a decrease of roughly 2.4 points. After an additional 5 minutes at higher intensity, pressure fell further to about 13 mmHg, a total drop of nearly 6 points.
The long-term picture is even more encouraging. Glaucoma patients who jogged for 30 minutes at least 20 times per month for three months showed consistently lower 24-hour eye pressure readings compared to baseline. The AAO recommends about 45 minutes of aerobic exercise three to four times per week. That kind of routine provides a sustained, protective pressure-lowering effect on top of whatever medications you may already be using.
After Glaucoma Surgery
If you’ve recently had glaucoma surgery, the rules tighten considerably. Procedures like trabeculectomy and tube shunt surgery intentionally lower eye pressure, sometimes to very low levels while healing occurs. During that window, heavy lifting, bending over, vigorous activity, and straining can all interfere with recovery. Johns Hopkins Medicine recommends avoiding any exercise that significantly raises your heart rate, causes breathlessness, or produces sweating until your surgeon clears you. Gentle walking is typically fine early on, but recovery from trabeculectomy and tube shunt procedures can take longer than less invasive options, so your timeline will depend on the specific surgery you had.