| Welcome sah808,
Stop practicing Utthita Hasta Padangushtasana if you are injuring yourself! Without seeing what you are doing, I would suggest making sure that your pubic bone and your hip bones (iliac crest) are on the same (frontal) plane and your two hip bones are the same height. Then, I would make sure that your pelvic floor is engaged and your lower abdomen is lifted in and up. Keep these in place as you lift your leg. Only lift your leg as far as you can keep these in place. Keep your spine extended without compressing your lower back throughout the pose, going into it, holding it and going back out. Make sure that only your leg is moving and not the position of your hips and lower back. I hope that this helps.
Namaste,
jimg
Edited by jimg 2010-08-29 7:05 PM
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
    
| Jon99Yoga - 2010-09-10 8:05 AM
Yoga is not going to cause an injury, unless there is a pre-existing condition.
Hmmm...Jon, you must work for one of those American health insurance companies! Of course you can get an injury doing yoga, even with no pre-existing conditions and even with a teacher. Even with a good teacher.
For some people, any poses that impact the sacro-illiac joints will cause problems. I have had students who had back pain when moving from halasana to sarvangasana unless they took both legs up together. But not every teacher will know that, not every teacher will be able to observe and correct for it and not every teacher teaches the students. Some forms only teach the sequence. I am not suggesting this is the case, but it is a possibility.
I am not a teacher with vast knowledge, but I have been well trained. Trained well enough to know that there is something wrong with this person doing this pose and it needs to be stopped until the answer is found. |
Veteran
Posts: 113
Location: Uppsala, Sweden | I don't think it is very common, but it is certainly not unheard of, and it tends to be a problem for the less flexible, the older, and those who are not able to keep with a good alignment (as described by Jim). Either there is a lack of flexibility, or strength - maybe both. Keep working on the previous asanas, before attempting this rather challenging asana, or do an easier variation, e.g. as described in David Swenson's Practice Manual, p. 44-49.
In stead of doing the pose with a straight leg (holding the big toe), the beginner might want to try it with a bent knee - only straightening the leg to the point where your spine is still held upright. For a beginner, initially holding around the knee or upper shin bone might be the best approach. And when standing up in a balancing position, be sure to ground the feet properly (especially the base of big toe) and stand on the entire foot, strong leg, engaging mula bandha and uddiyana bandha - keeping the pelvis (hip bones) in place. If balancing and keeping a good alignment is a problem - which it obviously is if the sacro-iliac joint is hurting - then doing the supine variation (Supta Padangusthtasana) with the help of a belt or a towel (to reach the foot) might be a better option. This would however be a deviation from the prescribed sequence of the method/style (Ashtanga Yoga as taught by Pattabhi Jois), and keeping with the proper alignment of the spine and hips, is still as important as in the standing posture.
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lower back injury
