Various ailments – knees, elbows and ankles!

Hi there Gabrielle

I have been reading your forum and it is wonderful! I was hoping that you might have some advice for me.

I have only been practising Bikram for a month, and I love it. However, I have a few issues with my knees, elbows and ankles that I am concerned about (many problems!).

I used to run quite a bit when I was younger until I had some injuries about 10 years ago. The physio I saw at the time said i had ‘runners knees’, and some other issue that I cant remember now. At the time I was also wearing terrible shoes and I ended up stopping running altogether. As the knee pain didnt go away even when I stopped running I was eventually seen by an orthotics specialist who said that my arches were high, which in combination with the shape of my legs/hips meant that my “q” angle resulted in pain in the knees (not really sure what that means but figured it might help you :)). Anyway, I have worn orthotics for about 7 years, and they do help (but it means I have to wear pretty ugly shoes ;))

I have also seen am orthopedic surgeon (the pain was pretty bad) and they said that structurally there was no problem and sent me back to the orthotic specialist.

For the first 3 weeks of yoga (I am doing the 30 day challenge) I had no problems with my knees and in fact there was vast improvement in the pain (almost non-existent!). However, I am now in agony with pain in my knees both during and after class. During class the worst pain is in the patella during the stick pose, particularly when I lean forward. I also get quite a bit of discomfort in the patella when I “lock my knee”. I have watched your video “from the ground up” and to be honest am a bit more confused now that before (which I am sure is because of me, not your video haha). I dont know whether I am following your advice correctly or not!

Fixed firm pose is very painful too (on the front sides of my knees especially), and I can barely get my “hips” even close to the ground (even with my knees really wide). I get twinges in most of the other poses but these two are the worst for me.

After class (i.e. not in class itself), the patella is not painful but the outsides of my knees (I think its where the ITB meets the knee joint) and inside top of my calf below my knee is very sore. Right – enough about my knees! Onto the next problem haha.

Around the same time that my knees became painful, my ankles became painful after class too. Not sure why, as there is no particular pose which I notice pain in class. The pain is located in the middle of my arch, as well as general pain around the whole ankle/foot. Not sure how else to descibe it!!!

Last complaint (I really do love yoga!). My elbows are also killing me from locust pose. This pain has been there from the beginning though. Now I only put my elbows as close to my body as they can get to my body (palms down) without excruiating pain when i tried to force them under my body (the pain was both before and after class for days). The dialogue says “your elbows should be painful” – but should they be this bad?? I cant fully straighten my arms in half moon pose either, and I wonder if I am just really inflexible in this part of my body.

Another potentially relevant issue is that I am overweight – 95kgs – and I wonder if this is contributing to the pain, particularly in the balancing postures where my poor knees and ankles are having to bear the brunt of all that weight! I have barely any strength in my legs (triangle pose is almost impossible for me), which might also be complicating things.

My lower back is also very painful (and has been for years) but I figure I will save that query for another post 🙂

Anyway, I would really appreciate any advice that you have for me.

Thanks so much in advance 🙂

Squareonex