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KNEE INJURY MCL (MEDIAL COLLATERAL LIGAMENT)
Posted: 05 April 2010 06:11 PM   [ Ignore ]  
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I had a ski accident yesterday and went to E.R DR said I have MCL injury a partial tear.
Is this going to ruin my yoga? what should I avoid? do? I rather do gentle yoga than go to physical therapy.
Any advice greatly appreciated.
By the way, I have been on advil, icing knee and elevating it since yesterday.
Thank you

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Posted: 05 April 2010 10:26 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 1 ]  
The Hot Yoga Doctor
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Hi Vanessa

Oh dear! Are you in great pain? Clearly while you’re on advil and icing and elevation you probably should avoid going to yoga! wink You should avoid further risk to your knee until all inflammation is gone.

OK, so some questions:
Were you told whether this was a grade 1 or 2 tear or perhaps grade 3?
Were you asked to wear a brace? If not then the injury is probably on the non-serious side!

The knee although a simple hinge has a complex arrangements of ligaments. Your MCL also joins to your meniscus (unlike the lateral CL). At the moment you will want to avoid twisting movements.

When you swelling is gone then you will be exercising your knee and building the strength again. Just open and close your knee as the simple hinge (avoid twisting for now). Start to practice locking your knee (using your quadriceps muscles).

There is generally very good supply of blood to the MCL so it should heal well. But it does depend on the size of the tear (grade of the injury). It could take up to 2 months to heal it back to normal. So ...

There are poses that you will want to avoid or modify when the time comes for yoga.

>>> 1 Eagle: Just crouch down hips back body up, twist the arms but NOT the legs.
>>> 2 Tree: See if you feel comfortable just putting sole of foot on lower leg or upper leg NOT at the knee. Your 100% healthy leg could do the regular tree or you can maintain symmetry and do the same thing on both sides. Obviously NO toe stand.
>>> 3 Fixed Firm: May initially be difficult. It depends on the tear and the healing. It may actually feel comfortable because Supta creates some space on the inside of your knee. So don’t be concerned at this stage if you have to skip for a while. The modification is simple and very restorative: Sit on your heels with knees and feet together. Just sit! Feet face down with lower legs straight and untwisted.

The above are the obvious ones.

OK I am on my way out the door so I will have to continue later with the rest.

Namaste
Gabrielle smile

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Posted: 06 April 2010 10:31 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 2 ]  
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Thank you so much for all your info. I am getting a better perspective on what type of movements to avoid.
The E.R DR said my injury was level 1. He said there was tear but not completely. I have noticed that the swelling is minimal too.
I have a knee brace for when I venture out, but so far I am planning on staying home and not risking further injury for at least 4 days after injury. (It’s snowing like crazy so not a good idea to go outside).
I am hoping this will heal quickly.

Thanks again.

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Posted: 06 April 2010 04:09 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 3 ]  
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Hi Vanessa

OK! Grade 1. I believe that with appropriate care (and pose modification) until your MCL is healed, you should return to a normal hot yoga practice! Yay

When you get back in the hot room, if you have any questions, come back and together we can work it out! Just continue building on strength and ease back into your twisting poses as indicated so that your healing stays on track.

Namaste
Gabrielle smile

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