The Hot Yoga Doctor – Free Bikram and Hot Yoga Resources › Hot Yoga Doctor Forum › The Hot Yoga Poses › Dandayamana Dhanurasana › Painful knee in the bows
The Hot Yoga Doctor – Free Bikram and Hot Yoga Resources › Hot Yoga Doctor Forum › The Hot Yoga Poses › Dandayamana Dhanurasana › Painful knee in the bows
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Hi Gabrielle, 🙂
Lately I have been experiencing a sharp pain in my left knee only when I do either of the bow postures. It happens when I try to deepen the pose and I feel a twinge that makes me come out of the pose or back off.
My doctor diagnosed me with Patellofemoral Syndrome, so I have trouble with pain when my knees are bent for a long time and they snap, crackle and pop like crazy! He says exercise and pain pills is about all I can do to treat it. :-/
The funny thing is that it is only in my left knee. I notice when I’m doing the Wind-removing pose that when I bend my left leg up, it tends to turn inward at an angle, whereas my right leg bends fairly straight.
I have a feeling the pain must be because of improper alignment, but I’m not sure how to correct it.
Do you have any suggestions?Many thanks! tracey
Hello Tracey
Yes it probably is related closely to your alignment, and likely to be fixable with a great focus on your alignment. Over time we can talk about different poses to pay attention to if generalized principles need to be expanded upon or made specific in certain cases.
With your ‘condition’ you really need to strengthen your quadriceps muscles quite considerably. Static yoga poses like the ones in Bikram and hot yoga are much better for you while you have this problem. Focus on alignment. Check little things like how your ‘offending’ foot may like to fan out to the side in some poses and how your hip moves out of alignment. Be concerned more with the solid hip alignment which will mean that in a number of poses one side will be quite obviously deeper than the other. Out of the studio avoid activity that irritates it (no running! for example).
In Standing Bow pose I am guessing that one of your kicking legs is also askew. See what happens when you focus on dropping that raised hip, working on squaring the hips and getting that symmetrical compression through your lumbar spine.
In Floor Bow you will probably find the same leg (left?) goes askew too. Experiment with a hip adjustment but you will probably find a corresponding shoulder adjustment will help you even things out.
Obviously don’t cause the pain! You are right to back off.
Please tell me if you have a problem with Fixed Firm pose.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂Actually I don’t have trouble with Fixed Firm. I do have to keep my knees wide and I can’t go all the way back, but I don’t have pain in my knees. I think I tend to be more careful with that posture, whereas when I’m trying to do Standing Bow or Floor Bow, I’m a little more gung-ho so I tend to force it.
What would you recommend for strengthening the quadriceps? Weight training or something more like pilates?
Funny you mentioned no running, I’ve never been very good at it! My friend who’s an avid runner and a doctor once said that some people are not built for doing certain exercises such as running. She said that if swimming were the only thing she could do, she would be big as a house because she just can’t do it very well(she sinks like a rock!)
Thank you so much for help, I’ve found the advice in this forum to be invaluable!
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