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| I find my right knee hurts, such that I can barely lift my hands of the ground let alone go forward. With the left I am okay. Its always been like this, I just thought over time things would open up but it hasn't. My instructor says to leave it out. My right knee doesn't cause this kind of problem in the other poses (usually only get up to navasna, after which I selct a few from finishing). Any idea what is going or what would help?
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| dragonfly - 2006-11-05 2:45 PM
I find my right knee hurts, such that I can barely lift my hands of the ground let alone go forward. With the left I am okay. Its always been like this, I just thought over time things would open up but it hasn't. My instructor says to leave it out. My right knee doesn't cause this kind of problem in the other poses (usually only get up to navasna, after which I selct a few from finishing). Any idea what is going or what would help?
One has to see your right knee rightly. Try sending pictures. |
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Location: London, England | Hi Dragonfly,
IMHO, i think the thing to do is to find a postion for your knee which doesn't hurt-you may choose to put a block underneath the bent leg-try different block poistions and leg positions. in doing this, you are attempting to find a postion of ease for the knee. Then you use the knee muscles-hamstrings, adductors, and so on, to bind the knee close to this position when you bend forwards. In this manner, the pose becomes rehabilitative for your knee, rather than causing injury-it's not clear whether the knee is injured yet from your post.
Take care
Nick |
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| sorry no digi camera/web cam yet!
nick - where would I put the block? esp considering I've got my foot up mass ass   (well you know what I mean with this position). The only time the knee is not hurting is just before i lift my self up over the heel, from after that its a matter of keeping hands down on the floor to keep off the pressure. In which case the blocks under my bottom but then I wouldnt be able to get my heel under.
No injury to the right knee, which has this problem, though left leg is smaller than right by half inch or so, but that one doesnt have the problem in same position. Also left foot doesnt extend forwards - had an operation when I was younger on the achilies to stop the fott turnign inwards. Could the problem be caused by this putting a certain strain on muscles in right knee? |
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Location: London, England | Hi Dragonfly,
Oops, sorry, didn't see the B after janu sirsasana  The operation on your left achilles would almost certainly affect the function of the right leg, and perhaps it's structure-more wear on different tissues surrounding the right knee, etc.
What I often teach in this posture is to point the foot fully, so that the tibia is facing the floor, and then push down on the foot, which unbends the knee a bit-this often brings relief to those with knee problems-should get your foot out of your butt as well In other words, don't sit down, but act as though you were standing up-just a fraction. This also helps to stop hyper extension of the knee in the straight leg as well. Give that a try.
Nick
Edited by Nick 2006-11-07 5:27 PM
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| do you mean the right foot (right knee bent) instead of pointing forwards parallel with left leg, points diagnallyy backwards towards the left. Well that's how it seems to come out with tibia flat on floor. It seems to be much better like that. |
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Location: London, England | Hi Dragonfly,
"do you mean the right foot (right knee bent) instead of pointing forwards parallel with left leg, points diagnallyy backwards towards the left."
I can't figure what you mean by the foot being parallel to the left leg, but, yes the foot is diagonally orientated-how much depends on how wide apart your knees are. I would recommend that you only take the knees wide enough that the front of your thigh faces the ceiling-if the tibia is facing forwards, this should help to reduce rotation in the knee-rotation may be contributing to the pain in the knee. It also means that when you push down on the floor with the foot, the action will not encourage rotation, but will extend the knee slightly-helping to strengthen the quads-the quads are primary muscles in knee rehabilitation, helping to track the patella and keep knee alignment when you move.
Nick
Edited by Nick 2006-11-07 6:24 PM
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| thanks seems good.
by parallel I meant i used to have the right foot toes pointing forwards and the sole running along the right upper lower thigh/bottom cheek.
well I'll see how it goes and see what my instructor makes of it.
cheers again for some quite informed advice
Edited by dragonfly 2006-11-07 6:46 PM
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Location: London, England | Hi Dragonfly,
Bear in mind that I don't toe the line when teaching yoga postures-chiropractic teaches anatomy to its students to bring about a therapeutic or healing effect to tissues which are strained by improper posture or inefficient movement patterns. So your teacher may be unfamiliar with this style-I assume they are, otherwise they would have told you to do exactly what I told you to do-that techniques is what I teach people straight off in my classes-everytone is a potential knee pain sufferer in a yoga class-so I use postures to both rehabilitate and prohabilitate (prevent injury in the firsat place).
The fact that it no longer hurts is a kind of proof of its efficacy-pain tells you not to do something, so pain is in fact like a friend who is honest and truthful, even though the truth is sometimes hard to bear. I had to acknowledge that many of yoga teachers were actually fools and BS artists as my knowledge of human anatomy grew. In discovering a method of doing janu sirsasasana B which does not hurt, yuo have gained an intuitive awareness of human anatomy which does not just apply to you-the pain has just made you more sensitive than others-now you can start teaching others!
So it really matters not one iota what your teacher thinks, unless they have a better suggestion. And as you have been taught to lay the foot across the buttocks, potentially straining the lateral ligaments of the ankle, causing improper foot positioning hen walking, creating excessive knee rotation and compression-then I would rather be taught by you with your increased sensitivity and knowledge.
In this way, both your body and yoga become your gurus, so you do not have you rely on others so much. I personally like it this way
Nick |
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| hi, the problem seems to be your hip alligment. u r bringing the pose from the knee cap to compensate for an over-extended but weeker right hip. obvously u aren't doing the 'A' right either. focus on that instead of 'B'. make sure the little toes are kept flat agaist the opp inner thigh. the heel must be in line with the center of the pubic bone. if this is not possible, u've caught the real trouble maker. all the janu sirsasanas are hip contractors. practice keeping that in mind. have a good practice! |
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| I would recommend definitely keeping your foot outside of your leg and continue on that side to practice Janu Sirsasana A again. It is OK for you to practice Janu Sirsasana B on the Left side but omit the sitting on your foot at all until there is no pain. Make sure your hip is externally rotated - one way you can help protect your knee is by rotating your foot so that the bottom of your foot is facing up towards the ceiling. This will protect your knee and help facilitate an external rotation in your right hip. I would also practice postures at home such as Siddhasana where both feet are lined up with the heels of your feel being underneath your belly button and both feet are in front of you in a comfy seated postition. Prop yourself up on a blanket and when you have your feet in front of you, externally rotate them again so that your hips are naturally rotating externally. Another method is to make sure in your standing postures you are applying bandhas (specifically uddhiana banda) so that your pelvis region is slightly rotating under - allowing the great ball and socket joint of your femur inside your pelvic bowl to rotate externally (i.e. Virabhdrasana A and B). This will continue to create open hips and allow more freedom in your right hip to externally rotate eventually in Janu Sirsana B. Does this help? |
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| errm dont understand what is meant by an externally rotated hip 
"one way you can help protect your knee is by rotating your foot so that the bottom of your foot is facing up towards the ceiling"
Like nick suggested or the foot still alongst the inner thigh but facing upwards?
As far as I know I'm okay with Janu A, but will have another check.
Thanks
Edited by dragonfly 2006-11-25 8:24 PM
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Location: London, England | Hi There,
Yep, there's so much external rotation going on, I can't work out what external rotation is either
Nick |
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Janu Sirsasana B causing pain
