The Hot Yoga Doctor – Free Bikram and Hot Yoga Resources › Hot Yoga Doctor Forum › The Hot Yoga Poses › Ardha Khurmasana › knee pain due to lack of flexibility/arthritis
The Hot Yoga Doctor – Free Bikram and Hot Yoga Resources › Hot Yoga Doctor Forum › The Hot Yoga Poses › Ardha Khurmasana › knee pain due to lack of flexibility/arthritis
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I just started with Bikram about a month and a half ago and am up to going about 5 days a week. My poor knees have been through 5 knee surgeries – an ACL reconstruction on each and a couple meniscus surgeries. My left knee in particular has a good amount of arthritis (small bone spurs as shown on my last MRI). Due to all of this, I have lost full range of motion – more in my left knee than the right. When I started Bikram, I was ridiculously far away from sitting on my heels, but it’s getting closer and closer. At this point, my butt is on my right heel, but my left one is still probably an inch or two away. So therefore, I can’t pick my hands up off the ground and raise my arms up over my head at the beginning of this pose or my left knee would be too painful.
So what I have been doing is to start with hands on the ground for support, try to get my heels down as far as I can, and then leaning my upper body forward and then putting my hands out into prayer. I can get into the final position and my butt is staying as close as it will go to my heels, I’m just – skipping a step, I guess, by not raising my arms all the way up.
Is this the best way to do this? Also – if my knees are causing my hips to be uneven, should I try to keep them even, or let my right hip drop lower than the left?
Also – I was going to say that so far, Bikram yoga has been great for my knees. I was in so much pain a few months ago, I couldn’t even mountain bike because I couldn’t stand on the pedals and my surgeon told me to just let him know when I wanted to have surgery to clean up the meniscus again and I’m just waiting until I’m old enough to have knee replacements. His only positive to my last MRI was that “apparently I have a pretty high pain tolerance”. But two of the yoga instructors at my studio have had serious knee problems and surgeries that were resolved with yoga (or recommended surgeries that were avoided through practice), so I’m determined to give this a shot and see if it can work for me as well. And so far, so good – since starting, I’ve been able to get back to skiing and eliminated the pain I was getting from skiing.
Thanks!
Hi Connie
What you’re doing is fine … almost! 😉
Using your hands on the floor is fine. At the moment, with your hips uneven your method is causing you to compensate unnaturally with your body and making it difficult to move into the pose ‘easily’.
Here’s what I would do differently. I would be trying to get your body to behave symmetrically.
So…
>> get yourself either some kind of sponge or cushion or rolled up towel
>> when you kneel, pop that item under your butt in such a way that you can relax into sitting into it so that your hips are even and you’re comfortable
>> now go into the pose.Over time you’ll reduce the size of the padding between hips and heels or unroll the towel progressively.
I would love to know how you go
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂Thanks for the quick response! I will give that a try and let you know how it goes!
Do you recommend the same type of thing for fixed firm pose? It’s about the same thing with that one – I’m really close to getting my right butt cheek to the ground (and have grazed it on my mat a few times now) but the right side is still a couple inches away. My instructors have said not to bother trying to lean back until my butt is down, so I’m just working on the legs with my hands on the ground for support. Should I just try to keep that even or should I try adding a rolled up towel to try to relax into it evenly?
(Sorry – maybe that part should go in the section for that pose!)
Hi Connie
You’re on the right track. Just find a way where you can surrender your weight to gravity. That means using the towel or cushion.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂Thanks! I didn’t make it to class tonight as we have a giant snowstorm going on, but tried this at home and can definitely feel the difference.
:cheese: Very pleased! I am positive it will make it easier for you! Struggle and yoga simply don’t go together…
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂I went to the early morning class today and have to say, it felt like my best class yet! 🙂 Thanks so much for this help. I used a rolled up towel as a prop for both poses and could actually manage to get my forehead down before my pinky fingers in Half Tortise (AND lift them up before my head) on the second set, and previously I was too worried about my knees over-flexing and being painful to focus on really giving it a solid effort to try.
So on to that part of it – I feel like I’m really pulling my shoulders back and down (I do some other types of yoga and have been told in other poses to feel like I’m pulling my shoulder blades down to my butt), and can feel everything contract from my glutes up my back to my shoulders to keep those fingers off the ground with my nose still touching. It almost felt a bit… wobbly – like I was off center for a split second here and there, in that most challenging part where leverage is working against you, like my body was figuring out how to manage it, but I’m guessing that will just get easier as I get used to it?
Anyway, thank you again – that felt so much better, and my knees felt better in the savasanas after the poses and everything.
Simply phenomenal Connie
Thanks for letting me know
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂Hope variations of the postures can help you.
I’ve seen folks doing that kind of thing.
hope you’re doing well. -
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