>I have a ? Ive been having knee pain for a year and a half resulting from yoga. I have had tight hips my whole life and wanted to get more range of motion so I started yoga. Sitting in Indian style position was difficult for me so I talked to the teacher after class. She said that consistent practice of this position would help to give me better range of motion in my hips. So I would do poses like sitting in Indian style for long periods of time, also I did that stretch
where you kinda lay over thigh and knee to stretch the hip and glut. well I never had any moment that my knee popped or a time where my stretching resulted in sudden pain it just starting getting painful to do the poses. One knee more than the other, the right one. NO popping catching instability… I stopped doing the stretching and researched
the internet finding my exact type of situation where people were doing these same two stretches and having issues. I even saw a huge article in a yoga magazine warning the danger of these poses. I diagnosed myself with a meniscus injury. I went to two different orthopedic surgeons, the first said i irritated the very sensitive tissue the second doctor got me an MRI and the results were I had a perfect knee. sitting in Indian style is totally out of the question any more, painful! I still cant squat on my knees with out serious sharp pain. I personally think that stretching in these poses torqued the shin bone into joint pinching my meniscus or stretching the ligament or worse case a small tear or degradation of the meniscus. only relief lately is to stretch the I.T. band, seems to free up my knee a bit. any body have the same thing happen to them? Any advice?
Hello Matthew and thank you for posting this here.
I’ll assume you’re a 25 year old male in otherwise perfect health who is getting plenty of rest, eating organic raw fruits and vegetables, and avoiding caffeine, alcohol, tobacco, and refined sugar.
Obviously self-diagnosis merely resulted in a costly MRI and a perfect knee. Ah, what price perfection.
There is a difference between yoga asanas (poses) that provide hip opening and ones that require hip opening. Unfortunately the person who directed you doesn’t make this distinction. Sitting crossed legged (was it with the feet in the crease of the groins?) requires hip opening, it does not deliver it.
While I’m not a doctor and my feedback should not be confused with medical advice, what can happen in the circumstances you mention is that the medial collateral ligament can be stretched. It’s rarely (if ever) a good idea to mobilize ligament in this fashion. I don’t know that this would be revealed in an MRI though a mobility test from a superior ortho might discover it.
That sort of thing would not likely respond to an IT stretch. So you may, in fact, have something else going on functionally. There should not be any sharp pain in a joint.
Advise?
See a therapeutically trained yoga teacher.
Apply Sunbreeze oil to the knee joint every two hours.
Organic, untoasted sesame seed oil to the knee once in the a.m and once at night.
Learn to properly contract your quadriceps.
Stay hydrated - consume at least half your body weight in ounces.
Rest frequently. A 3 minute savasana every hour.
Find some MSM or other joint formula at the local health food store.
Dear InnerAthlete, Thanks for the speedy reply. I am the perfect 29 year old who gets 10 hours of sleep… I find in my experiences with doctors is that you have to take what they say with a grain of salt and figure out things for your self. When I explained that I believed my pain was from stretching it was almost ignored that it was a possibility. Were talking about the two leading orthopedic surgeons in my area. The idea of stretching out a ligament wasn’t brought up. The way I was sitting in indian style wasn’t with my feet in the crease of the groin. More like you would see a kindergartner do. To be more specific to where my pain is, its at the head of the fibula anterior ligament, and the lateral collateral ligament. I have always had tight I.T. bands and you may be right that it is some other problem. I know that when I pull my knees into my chest there shooting pain at the outer(lateral) sides of my knees, and when i stretch the I.t. with a foam roll it gives me more range and less pain. I am going to look for a therapeutic yoga teacher in my area and consult with them. Is it possible for a stretched L.C.L to heal and have you heard of it happening? Thanks so much for your help!!!
Ligaments can heal, absolutely.
You need more prehab. Do self myofascial release, joint mobility work, probably add stretching also.
A good flow to do for the lower body is the Flock of Pigeons. However do the whole body, because everything is connected.
Check out www [dot] prasarayoga [dot] com.