enlightenme

Hi again,

Thank you for your help, it is really appreciated. I have been in physical therapy for 3 weeks because of the knee pain. The exercises I have been doing are wall sits, leg extensions on the machine while holding a ball between my knees, inner thigh leg lifts with 2 1/2 lb ankle weights and calve stretches on a slant board. My yoga has improved since I started, especially the balancing poses. I don’t do awkward pose or toe stand as those are the ones that hurt. In awkward, I just go down as low as I can with my back straight and stop where I can hold it. My doctor, whom I saw for the referral, told me a had loose knee caps. Structural issues, weak quads and inner thighs and too much body weight seem to have all conspired against my knees.

In fixed firm pose I am not trying to lie flat and can barely get a slight arch going.

I am really excited about the improvements I am making since I started the PT. Your instruction coupled with the PT is making a huge difference. I use your 90 minute class from the master class for my practice. Have you thought about recording some more 90 minute classes as I would like to mix it up a little?

Thank you, again for all of your help. I love your work.

Patty

Hi G.,

Thank you for your Hot Dr. assistance as I have been struggling with my issues for a long time. I stopped all of my other activities, Astanga Yoga, weight lifting and bike riding because I knew I was seriously out of balance due to a sciatic nerve problem a couple of years ago where I couldn’t walk after yoga or bike riding because the pain shot all the way down my left leg. If I sat very long, I couldn’t get up and walk, especially after exercise. I went to PT and they told me I would have it the rest of my life (HA) and I did the exercises which did include hamstrings (laying on my back with heals on the big ball). The pain stopped but there has always been a lingering pain in the back of my left thigh which I managed by stretching.

I started doing hot yoga and I thought I was progressing nicely. I ordered your Masterclass and found out I wasn’t doing a lot of the poses correct, especially the balance poses. I had to take myself all the way back to basic stuff as in just standing there and locking out the leg in standing head to knee. With the Masterclass, I found that the reason I was doing the poses is that I was doing them incorrect.

To answer your questions: I am just now starting to pull up on the kneecap to lock my leg. It has taken a long time to finally feel it. I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to also push my knee back at the same time. If I lock the leg and pull up it seems to reduce the hyperextension. It seems I weight both feet evenly when I walk- and I walk with toes straight. I do know in the balance poses I didn’t weight both feet evenly until your instruction to do so. I did the single leg bends and they felt good (weak but good) If you have other specific exercises I would gladly utilize them.

The other thing that has been going on is that for awhile I had horrible knee pain (above the knee cap) since I started locking out the knee. I used to be able to do all of the knee poses without pain. For example, fixed firm pose used to be easy and then it became so painful that all I could do was sit on my knees. Now, I am able to do fixed firm pose again and even hold for long holding (no arch in the back-almost flat back on the ground). The last knee pose that I can’t do is awkward pose without pain. I used to be able to go all the way down without pain. I couldn’t stop on the way down but at least I got down there without pain or bending to much forward. Now, I have to bend forward to help myself down because it hurts a lot above the knee cap. I can manage to prop myself back up, though and into the squat with my knees together, of course. I am back at tree pose, too where I can bend down and sit on the heel as the pain is diminishing. Speaking of tree pose, my hips hard to keep level when standing on one leg.

One more thing, in the balance poses I have to really work to push the big toe in and my hip outward in my standing leg-to even the hips. The left side is worse as in bow and standing on my left leg, sometimes all I can do is stand there holding my bent leg.

I will do the single leg bends and anything else you suggest. Thank you for your help.

Patty

P.S. I hope you decide to do a teacher’s training.

Hi,

I had nothing but compassion when I read your post. I suffered from piriformis syndrome for about four years. It was terrible. I couldn’t walk after doing Yoga (I wasn’t into Bikram at the time). It seemed there were certain poses that made my condition worse. I also was biking daily and eventually gave that up. I went to physical therapy and that helped. They found several muscle imbalances that I worked on. PT wasn’t the only answer, however. I saw a chiropractor, too and he would make adjustments that worked but my body would eventually go back. I think what I really needed to do was rest but it took me a couple of years to figure that out. I also bought a bike saddle that is made different for piriformis syndrome. I found that this is common among serious bike riders. I haven’t tried the new saddle but a couple of times as my body eventually made me stop riding due to chronic fatigue. I bought some equipment from trigger-point which is where you place a special ball on the muscles to help them release. This always felt wonderful. I have been going to a massage therapist for deep tissue massage and I highly recommend this treatment. Also, acupuncture has helped. I started doing Bikram less than a year ago and it is helping with the muscle imbalances in my body. I don’t know why I ended up this way as I loved to exercise. At the same time I developed the syndrome I also had complete adrenal failure so maybe this was my body telling me to stop exercising. Too much stress in my life left me depleted. It was a four year process to regain my health. I have ended all exercise except for Bikram and I have never had problems with the poses but this is on the other-side of my story. Maybe there is something in here for you as I know it isn’t exactly what you asked but I felt compelled to help if I could because it has truly been a long road for me.

Patty