Painful knee in the bows

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 🙂