Yoga Therapy for Knee Joint

Any exercise carried out in an unreasonable way will cause damage. The knee is the largest and most complex joint in the human body. The knee joint is a hinge joint. It is one of the few joints in our body that can only move in one direction. During exercise, the knee joint bears a lot of weight. If you don't pay more attention, it can easily cause strain and injury. Prevention is a key aspect, but how should we use exercise to repair an injured knee joint?

Let's first look at the pain in different parts of the knee joint.

1. Pain in the iliotibial band on the lateral side of the knee

2. Pain in the front knee around the knee, also known as patellofemoral joint pain.

3. Pain above the knees may be caused by quadriceps tendonitis.

4. Pain above the kneecap or the inner side of the upper tibia may be caused by bursitis.

Insufficient muscle strength in the legs and buttocks is the main cause of knee joint pain, but too tight muscles can also have adverse effects on the knee joint. The stretching of the leg ligaments can also help the recovery of the knee joint. Therefore, in yoga practice after the knee joint is damaged, the main focus should be on the construction and enhancement of the strength of the legs and buttocks muscles. The following are a few yoga poses that are beneficial for recovery after a knee injury.

Phantom chair variant

Starting from the mountain pose, lean your back against the wall, slowly bend your knees to an angle of less than 90 degrees, keep your knees and ankles perpendicular to the ground, and retract your coccyx so that the entire back is pressed against the wall to build the strength of your leg muscles. Hold for a while and straighten your knees and relax. To exercise the inner thighs, clip a yoga brick between your knees.

sitting and forward flexion

Starting in the Sit-Mount stance, bend your right knee inward, keep your left leg extended and the muscles tightened, and the second toe of your left foot is facing the knee. Inhale and stretch the spine upward, breathe and slowly lean forward, focusing on the tightening of the leg muscles and the stretching of the posterior ligaments of the leg.>

Foot binding

Pay attention to stretching your back, and if your back cannot stand upright, place a yoga mat or yoga brick under your hips. Don't draw your feet too close to your body, but focus your awareness on stretching your inner thighs to increase the strength of this part of your muscles.

Warrior variant

Facing the wall, step forward with your right foot, support the wall with your hands, and touch the ground with your left heel. Inhale and stretch your spine upward, exhale and bend your right knee, and feel the extension on the back of your left leg. Pay attention to tighten the muscles of your legs and lift them up, and your right knee does not exceed your toes.

lateral

Start on your right side, rest your head on your right arm, keep your legs together, and bend your knees 90 degrees. Inhale and slowly lift the knees of your left leg up, keeping your feet together until the knees are about a palm width apart. Hold for a few breaths, and slowly drop down when exhaling.

Stand and balance on one leg

Starting from the mountain stance, move your center of gravity to your right foot, bend your left knee backward, and place it on the chair without leaning forward. Pull your hips forward and feel the stretch on the front side of your left thigh. Pay attention to adjusting the chair to the right height.

supine with hand-held legs

Lie on your back and inhale by pulling your right leg upward with both hands so that your right thigh is at 90 degrees to the ground. When inhaling in again, slowly straighten the knees of your right leg, feel the stretch on the back of your right thigh, hold for a few breaths before falling.

supine torsion and stretching

Lie on your back, stretch your arms to the sides, bend your left leg and place your left foot on the outside of your right knee. Stretch your right leg while breathing in, and pull your left knee downward with your right hand when breathing out, feeling the stretch of your left hip.

How to protect your knees during yoga practice?

1. Pay attention to warming up, especially the hip joint.

The hip joint, the knee joint and the ankle joint are the three joints connected to the lower limbs of the human body. If the hip joint does not have enough movement, excessive pressure will be exerted on the knee joint in many postures that require the hip joint to be opened, making the knee joint overwhelmed. At the beginning, you can rotate your hips and ankles, practice butterfly pose, ox face pose, etc. to strengthen the stretching of the hip joint. After the hip joint is opened, it is much easier to sit cross-legged and other poses.

2. The adjustment and construction of the pose starts with the placement of the feet.

Make sure that the soles of your feet can touch the ground stably, and that the four corner points of the soles of your feet (two points on both sides of the forefoot and two points on both sides of the heel) should be evenly distributed on the ground, and exert force. Strength goes deep into the ground through the ball of the sole of the foot, and your toes are open and kept moving. Also pay attention to lifting the center of your feet up through the arch of your feet. In this way, the strength of the ligaments on both sides of the knee is evenly distributed, the patella can move freely, and the meniscus is not easily squeezed excessively.

3. Keep your knees and ankle joints perpendicular in the pose with your knees bent.

For example, in the warrior pose and side angle pose, first place the knee directly above the ankle joint, open the five toes, and after bending the knee, the position of the patella should be consistent with the direction of the second toe. If there is a small amount of leaning forward, the knees should not exceed the tips of the toes. At the same time, pay attention to the instep and don't let the center of your feet fall down.

4. Avoid over-stretching your knees inward.

In poses that require straight legs, it is easy to overstretch your knees inward. For example, in the triangle pose and the back extension pose of both legs, the position of the knees is often easy to turn inward, and the strength of the ligaments around the knees is easy to be unbalanced at this time. Standing in cloverleaf pose, you can bend your knees slightly to keep your feet firmly pressed against the ground. In cloverleaf, you can place a small towel roll under the knee socket.

5. Pay attention to the subtle feelings of the knees and adjust them in time.

The ligaments and cartilage of the knee, as well as the meniscus, are places where the sensation is not very sharp. If you feel pain, injury is often inevitable at this time. So you should feel it carefully, and once you feel a little uncomfortable, adjust quickly to avoid further damage. If you feel pain when you come out of the pose, the damage has actually been done.

6. Strengthen the protection of your knees through balance poses.

In the balance pose, because the body needs to adjust itself to find the best position, the body's wisdom will make reasonable use of the strength of the muscles and ligaments around the knees to find the balance point. In particular, standing balance poses that require knee bending, such as Eagle pose, are most effective. This dynamic balance mainly enhances ligament function, not just muscle strength, so it also helps prevent future injuries.

7. Actively use auxiliary items.

In sitting cross-legged pose, if the height of the knees exceeds the crotch, a brick or blanket should be placed under the hips to at least keep the height of the knees parallel to the crotch. When the hero sits, he can also put a cushion under his buttocks. If you can't put your hips on your heels in the lightning seat, you can place a rolled towel between your thighs and calves. In any pose that requires deep knee bending, as well as in children's pose and Maric's pose, you can place a rolled towel roll closest to the knee socket and then sit down. This will greatly reduce the pressure on the knee without damaging the knee.

8. Pay attention to relaxing after practice.

Relaxation after asana practice is important. It can help muscles, ligaments and bones recover. (Internship Editor: Wu Jinyu)