i started about 3 months ago with bilateral sit bone pain, mild thought too much yoga. then my hamstrings started to feel stiff. worse in the morning. Then both knees started to be stiff in the morning and in the middle of the night it was painful to resposition. went the the chiro: no improvement, Doctor tested me for lyme, lupus, bone cancer. The knee stifness and groin stiffness are getting worse. Just had an MRI of my spine with some dejenerative disease.
I feel like all the leg muscles that are stretched with yoga are ripping apart. My knees are noisy and stiff, the kill me at night. I have lost all flexibilty in my hips, cant sit cross legged ect. I feel it is because of yoga. any help?
. check pranayama out
. no blockages
. in yoga
What kind of yoga practice are you doing too much of that you think might have caused this? Have you tried to cut back? Or talk to your teachers? If your practice has caused this, then perhaps they can help you adjust it so that it does not cause damage.
You haven’t provided enough background information for a sound answer. You’ve only outlined the symptoms and have not outlined you or your practice.
Gordon
[QUOTE=tristan;63850]i started about 3 months ago with bilateral sit bone pain, mild thought too much yoga. then my hamstrings started to feel stiff. worse in the morning. Then both knees started to be stiff in the morning and in the middle of the night it was painful to resposition. went the the chiro: no improvement, Doctor tested me for lyme, lupus, bone cancer. The knee stifness and groin stiffness are getting worse. Just had an MRI of my spine with some dejenerative disease.
I feel like all the leg muscles that are stretched with yoga are ripping apart. My knees are noisy and stiff, the kill me at night. I have lost all flexibilty in my hips, cant sit cross legged ect. I feel it is because of yoga. any help?[/QUOTE]
I sympathize. I have lost considerable range of motion in my legs in the years I have done yoga. I’m not sure whether it is age (I’m in my 60s) or yoga. When teachers blithely assure us that over time, we will become more flexible, I am deeply demoralized, and am now searching for a teacher who will not make such assurances, as, for me, such assurances diminish my trust in my teacher. I have had great success in the past two months achieving pain-free mobility with a Feldenkrais Method teacher/coach (though I haven’t regained range of motion – still can’t open legs more than 60 degrees, or sit cross-legged). Still, pain-free walking again is wonderful. To Tristan: Good luck. To you yoga teachers out there: love you, but don’t make promises that you can’t know will come true, sometimes don’t come true, and distract from the here and now.
There’s a bit of a difference between a promise and a generalization. But I would agree with you that teachers of yoga need to be very mindful of their dialogue with students and continue raising the bar, though it is already quite high.
New students often come to the practice with various expectations of “results”. And of course results can be had and will be had. However no two students are alike and therefore no two results are alike.
There are a myriad of variables in what a student receives. And for such a topic I reference the five requirements of a yoga student; urge to grow, willingness to change, sound teachings, effort, and patience. A student who has spent 6 decades creating stiffness in their physical body via their life choices could not reasonably expect to undue such deep grooves with four hours of classroom practice a week and I tell my students this very thing - frequently.
As a student my practice is only profound when I am willing to look at the contribution I make to my living through nutrition, lifestyle, emotions, thoughts, and action. When I am not willing or able to do such things my physical practice is “nice” it “feels good” but it lacks the unification of mind in the doing and therefore the body often snaps back to where it was.
And, of course we must remain aware of the old saying “keep doing what you’re doing you’ll keep getting what you’re getting”. True, as a teacher I should not (and do not) make promises to students but I do share information to empower them so that they embrace responsibility for their living.
[QUOTE=InnerAthlete;66433]There’s a bit of a difference between a promise and a generalization. But I would agree with you that teachers of yoga need to be very mindful of their dialogue with students and continue raising the bar, though it is already quite high.
New students often come to the practice with various expectations of “results”. And of course results can be had and will be had. However no two students are alike and therefore no two results are alike.
There are a myriad of variables in what a student receives. And for such a topic I reference the five requirements of a yoga student; urge to grow, willingness to change, sound teachings, effort, and patience. A student who has spent 6 decades creating stiffness in their physical body via their life choices could not reasonably expect to undue such deep grooves with four hours of classroom practice a week and I tell my students this very thing - frequently.
As a student my practice is only profound when I am willing to look at the contribution I make to my living through nutrition, lifestyle, emotions, thoughts, and action. When I am not willing or able to do such things my physical practice is “nice” it “feels good” but it lacks the unification of mind in the doing and therefore the body often snaps back to where it was.
And, of course we must remain aware of the old saying “keep doing what you’re doing you’ll keep getting what you’re getting”. True, as a teacher I should not (and do not) make promises to students but I do share information to empower them so that they embrace responsibility for their living.[/QUOTE]
With respect, I have been working on yoga and other physical for many, many years of the 60-odd I have under my belt. When I have raised my more recent concerns with teachers, the response is similar to yours, i.e., it must be something I’m doing, because yoga has no problems. Must be that I’m just spiritually developed, or I’m physically inadequate, or in some way unacceptable; yoga is often a fairly judgmental schema in practice, ahimsa being not as much in evidence as one might wish.
My body has not snapped back to where it was, it has gone downhill. It would help if teachers acknowledge that possibility, instead of, in effect, denying it.
The forms I’m encouraged to emulate or reach or aspire to or whatever the correct verb is don’t “feel good,” they frequently hurt as demonstrated. I don’t always leave a yoga class “feeling good.” Often enough, I leave worrying whether I will pay for my practice in the next 24 hours because what hurts does not always hurt at the time, in the pose, but later, at home.
One is encouraged by some teachers to make adjustments and not be competitive and stop a pose any time and only do what is available, and so on, and that’s good. But, the generalization/promise that more practice will have certain results continues to be repeated, and over a period of many years, I have not experienced that as true. When it proves not to be the case, indeed, the very opposite of the case, I say again, however well meant, the statements are nevertheless demoralizing, even more demoralizing than the loss of ROM, since if I had any idea what to do differently, I would be doing it.
I continue yoga because I fear becoming even more stiff, but empathy would help.
Sorry to hear about your situation Tristan, it can’t be easy to be in so much discomfort.
Do you think you could maybe have a 121 with a yoga therapist who can better advise you, in big classes it is difficult for one teacher to remain mindful of every student’s unique injury so you could end up doing more harm than good.
I wish you well.
[QUOTE=patsact;66434]With respect, I have been working on yoga and other physical for many, many years of the 60-odd I have under my belt. When I have raised my more recent concerns with teachers, the response is similar to yours, i.e., it must be something I’m doing, because yoga has no problems. Must be that I’m just spiritually developed, or I’m physically inadequate, or in some way unacceptable; yoga is often a fairly judgmental schema in practice, ahimsa being not as much in evidence as one might wish.
My body has not snapped back to where it was, it has gone downhill. It would help if teachers acknowledge that possibility, instead of, in effect, denying it.
The forms I’m encouraged to emulate or reach or aspire to or whatever the correct verb is don’t “feel good,” they frequently hurt as demonstrated. I don’t always leave a yoga class “feeling good.” Often enough, I leave worrying whether I will pay for my practice in the next 24 hours because what hurts does not always hurt at the time, in the pose, but later, at home.
One is encouraged by some teachers to make adjustments and not be competitive and stop a pose any time and only do what is available, and so on, and that’s good. But, the generalization/promise that more practice will have certain results continues to be repeated, and over a period of many years, I have not experienced that as true. When it proves not to be the case, indeed, the very opposite of the case, I say again, however well meant, the statements are nevertheless demoralizing, even more demoralizing than the loss of ROM, since if I had any idea what to do differently, I would be doing it.
I continue yoga because I fear becoming even more stiff, but empathy would help.[/QUOTE]
Hi patsact,
Imho, resistance training may help with the stiffness.
All the stretching you are getting from yoga is nice, but you can also 1. overstretch muscles 2. posture imbalances are only temporarly relieved by yoga stretching, for a long term solution you have to build up strength.
You might achieve this with the right yoga practice, but I guess the asanas would have to be quite vigorous to build/maintain proper strength.
I’d advise to do some Pilates (with equipment) or some free weight training.
For your leg stiffness you could start with some squats with dumbbells
Hello Pat,
I appreciate the way in which you’ve responded and understand your position.
Thank you for sharing it, I’ll bear it in mind as I move forward as a teacher and student.
gordon