Nurture your lower back, hips and knees with a relaxing 10 minute floor practice.
When I was about 16 years old, I had a knee operation. I’d had a clicky, painful left knee for a while and it was stopping me from being active, so a doctor recommended a scan, which was followed by a removal of a suprapatella plica. It was recommended with the best of intentions, but the only change afterwards was that I was left without any feeling in the side of my knee due to the surgeon damaging a nerve. I struggled on, and just got used to having a dodgy knee.
Years later, I saw an excellent therapist for a severe back injury, and she noticed that my left hip was very compressed, and that my pelvis tilted forward on the left. She addressed the compression and imbalance, and my knee pain disappeared completely.
This was years before I became a yoga teacher, but it was my first lesson in how our hips can affect our knees. I’ve also learned that the way we stand on our feet can have a deep impact on our knees.
Of course, not every knee problem is caused by hip or foot imbalances. Knees are complicated and there’s a great variety of things that happen with them, and only your trusted health professional can assess them properly. But it’s safe to say that the health of our knees depends a lot on the mobility and balance of our hips and feet.
Having had trouble with my joints throughout my life, especially my lower back, hips and knees, I have some favourite practices that help keep me balanced, mobile and strong. This is one I do regularly, almost every day: Supta Padangusthasana 1 & 2
It’s a rewarding practice, in that if you approach it mindfully, with unhurried breathing, and doit regularly, you’ll start noticing the benefits very quickly: better hip mobility, more ease in your lower back, and more balance through your pelvis, sacrum and knee joints.
This practice requires something like a yoga strap, but an old scarf or a long belt will do equally as well.
You may have seen some dramatic pictures of this pose where someone is bringing their leg over towards their face in a huge stretch, but that’s not how I do this practice. I have hypermobile joints, and I work with women who are interested in joint health, mobility, and stability, so I’m aiming to find a good balance of strength and sustainable mobility for the hamstrings, not just floppy, glamorous looking flexibility. (If that’s your thing, no problem have fun, but you won’t find that here). So I’m recommending that you keep your knee above our hip, and ease the back of your knee open bit by bit, rather than yanking the whole leg towards you.
Click the picture above to enjoy the practice.
I hope you found this useful.
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