If you are suffering from knee pain and are practicing yoga, you may be wondering if you should practice yoga when you have knee pain? In fact, you can still practice, but you need to pay more attention and choose the right exercises for yourself.
Yoga is a practice that benefits the whole body, but when practitioners suffer from musculoskeletal problems, especially knees, it’s a different story. So, should I practice yoga when my knee hurts? Let’s find out with easyhealthylive.com!
Should I practice yoga when I have knee pain?
The answer is yes. With just a little attention to the body, especially the knees, you can still practice yoga at home or with a trainer. If you are working out with a coach, let the coach know about your condition. The coach will design more reasonable, effective exercises suitable for knee pain.
For example, a person with a meniscus tear (the cartilage deep inside the knee) will have difficulty, even pain, when bending and extending. So this person will not be able to do the baby pose. If they know they have knee pain, the coach can limit exercises that require deep knee flexion, and instead include a series of logical movements to gradually improve the ability of the knee.
Knee flexes put a lot of pressure on the knee
This is similar to cases of knee pain due to degeneration and aging. With such a knee condition, bending and stretching the knee joint can slow down the aging process and return mobility to the knee joint.
One of the advantages of practicing yoga is that you can completely flexibly arrange and choose exercises that are suitable for your health and fitness situation. This means that if you have an injury, there are movements that can help fix or ease the pain.
Back to the case of knee pain, to relieve pressure on this part, balancing positions with hands or banana planting pose are reasonable choices. That said, it’s not that you give up the postures that depend on the lower body, but in the process of practicing, you should pay attention to your knees and have a coach monitor to adjust and support in time.
How can a practitioner reduce pressure on the knee?
There are two golden factors to ensure the safety of the knee, which is to avoid bending too deeply and stretching too much when practicing yoga. To do that, you need to pay attention to every movement of your body.
Switching movements slowly is the right thing to do when you have knee pain
When practicing yoga, the body switches between movements gently and slowly. Adjust the posture so that you feel most comfortable, without pain, knee pain when performing the movement. Skip difficult movements and use supportive yoga equipment if possible. This not only reduces pressure on the knees, but also stimulates the surrounding muscles, making them stronger.
How to know if the knee is in trouble when practicing yoga?
If your knee or any part of your body feels painful or uncomfortable while exercising, stop immediately and seek help from those around you or your teacher. Remember, no move is worth risking your safety.
Because for complex movements, the consequences are not just normal sprains and dislocations, but also problems that take a long time to be completely cured, and in some cases, they can’t even be cured. . In addition, increase the intensity and difficulty of the exercises slowly, because this will not only give the body time to get used to, but the yoga practice will be less stressful.
What yoga moves should I avoid or correct for knee pain?
If your yoga injury involves ligaments, give up poses like warrior I, II, baby pose. These poses require the knees to be bent to a certain degree.
With the toestand position, instead of trying to lower your body as deeply as possible, you should focus your attention on balancing to practice more muscle flexibility.
With the lotus position requiring strong hip muscles and leg position, the knee will be under a lot of pressure, even pain. Therefore, you should perform the semi-lotus position with a yoga brick below the bent knee to increase the effectiveness of the exercise and to relax the knee.
You should let your knees relax when doing yoga
When you have knee pain, you need to understand what you are injured and talk to your coach to find the best posture and training method for you.
Reference source
Easy ways to modify yoga with a knee injury https://aaptiv.com/magazine/modify-yoga-with-a-knee-injury Access date: June 27, 2020
John Alen was born in 1971 and is a doctor in the healthcare and psychology fields with many years of experience. He is currently working at easyhealthylive.com, a leading health and psychology blog. Having studied at Y1 National Medical University named after IM Sechenov, John Alen is using his knowledge and experience to help improve the physical and mental health of people in the United States.
