Maintaining healthy and happy knees.
Today I had yet another interesting conversation with a friend about sore knees. I have had so many conversations with yoga students and friends who have pain in their knees, feet or hips. I felt it was time to share my thoughts. On closer observation everyone I have spoken with misuse their knees by locking them back. If you think you do this, stop right now!
Our knee joint is a hinged joint, designed to bend the knee so that we can climb and move forward, and sit down. The knee joint allows us to move. Unfortunately, for various reasons we treat our knees as weight bearing joints by locking the knees back so that the ligaments take the body weight and the front of the knee is compressed. This is illustrated below in the left hand image. In addition, we often torque the knee joint so that the weight comes down in one place, rather than being evenly distributed. This leads to 'wear and tear'; cartilage and ligaments are all vulnerable to damage. If you look at the image below you can see a knee locked back and a knee correctly aligned. The latter shows how the skeleton takes the weight of the body straight through the bones. The muscles are thus able to hold the bones in alignment and also to move the bones when you wish to walk.
An exercise to balance your knees.
Have you noticed yourself pressing your knees back into a locked position? Do you do this as you stand, or also when you walk? Sometimes it is hard to recognise a habit that is deeply ingrained. However, if you stand side on to a mirror, place your feet parallel and consciously press the knees back and see what that looks like, then slowly creep your knees forward until your knee caps automatically lift and you can see your thigh is above your shin. This can be a tiny but transformative distance. Carry on going after that point and your knees will bend and you can feel that extreme. So return slowly, feeling for the balance point. It's a bit like climbing a hill to the summit; going from bent knees to legs straight, then just going a little way down the other side; locking the knees back. Then slowly back to the summit and then a long way back down the hill as you bend your knees again. Finish with your knees aligned, with the thigh bone balanced directly above the lower leg bone and directly above the ankle. Pay attention to how your lower back feels.
Twisting the knee joint.
If you combine locking your knees back and twisting the knee joint you are even more likely to be brewing problems for your whole lower body and particularly your knees.
How do you know if you are doing this? Look down at your feet as you stand. Do your feet rotate out a little? Perhaps a lot. Perhaps one does, one doesn't. When the feet habitually turn out there is uneven pressure on the knee joint. This is also true if you have flat arches, cramped toes or are pigeon toed. There are many variations on how to apply uneven pressure to a knee joint.
Try bringing the feet parallel so that the first little toe points straight forward from the middle of your ankle, not the big toe. Allow the big toe and joint to be very slightly in. If you torque your knee joints to any extent then this is going to feel odd. You may find you suddenly become knock-kneed! Correct alignment feels very strange if it is not your habit. You will find it difficult to maintain this position unless you give it your full concentration. It takes practice both on the mat and off.
This issue is harder to remedy and so I suggest you come along to a class for some attention!
Knees as a vital link - the wobble point for strength.
I would like to say some more about our knees. We tend to neglect our knees unless they hurt. Yesterday, I decided to give mine some particular attention as I practised the standing postures, and something interesting happened. I felt an energetic release down my body that felt a little wobbly but very good. I felt more grounded. When I am focusing on the sensations of my knees I am feeling for their position. I am seeking an alignment where I can feel a direct connection directly up and down through the bones of my legs, through the knee from foot to pelvis. It feels like a wobbly balance in the knee joint that I have to hold lightly but firmly with my knee muscles.
In Yoga we are reorganising our bodies into a healthy relationship with the ground and the sky. Our bodies are like conduits between the polarity of earth and sky and this only truly happens when our bones are positioned in a healthy relationship to each other. When the bones are aligned, life force moves through us like a row of dominos. The parts of our body which are concerned with this rebounding life force are the structures of our feet and pelvis. The feet are designed to take our body weight and ground it into the earth. They are also able to rebound that force back up through the balls and arches of the feet, through the legs and into the sacrum and pelvic floor. If the knees lock back, or are habitually bent, we lose the ability to transfer that movement through the knee joint and we block off this domino like flow through the body that sustains us. We cut ourselves off from the earth and our sense of standing in the power of our life force. So, when we lock the knees or get tight in the knees we have a false sense of security. Often we are resisting life in some way. In order to reconnect to a deeper sense of security and personal power, try exploring this area of uncertainty in the positioning if your knees.
So as you stand, or do yoga postures, feel your knees and notice what they are doing. It may be impossible for you to lock your knees or it may be a very old habit. You do not have to get it right. The act of tuning into your knee joints will have an effect, even if you are not sure what is alignment and what isn't. See what happens.
Today I had yet another interesting conversation with a friend about sore knees. I have had so many conversations with yoga students and friends who have pain in their knees, feet or hips. I felt it was time to share my thoughts. On closer observation everyone I have spoken with misuse their knees by locking them back. If you think you do this, stop right now!
Our knee joint is a hinged joint, designed to bend the knee so that we can climb and move forward, and sit down. The knee joint allows us to move. Unfortunately, for various reasons we treat our knees as weight bearing joints by locking the knees back so that the ligaments take the body weight and the front of the knee is compressed. This is illustrated below in the left hand image. In addition, we often torque the knee joint so that the weight comes down in one place, rather than being evenly distributed. This leads to 'wear and tear'; cartilage and ligaments are all vulnerable to damage. If you look at the image below you can see a knee locked back and a knee correctly aligned. The latter shows how the skeleton takes the weight of the body straight through the bones. The muscles are thus able to hold the bones in alignment and also to move the bones when you wish to walk.
An exercise to balance your knees.
Have you noticed yourself pressing your knees back into a locked position? Do you do this as you stand, or also when you walk? Sometimes it is hard to recognise a habit that is deeply ingrained. However, if you stand side on to a mirror, place your feet parallel and consciously press the knees back and see what that looks like, then slowly creep your knees forward until your knee caps automatically lift and you can see your thigh is above your shin. This can be a tiny but transformative distance. Carry on going after that point and your knees will bend and you can feel that extreme. So return slowly, feeling for the balance point. It's a bit like climbing a hill to the summit; going from bent knees to legs straight, then just going a little way down the other side; locking the knees back. Then slowly back to the summit and then a long way back down the hill as you bend your knees again. Finish with your knees aligned, with the thigh bone balanced directly above the lower leg bone and directly above the ankle. Pay attention to how your lower back feels.
Twisting the knee joint.
If you combine locking your knees back and twisting the knee joint you are even more likely to be brewing problems for your whole lower body and particularly your knees.
How do you know if you are doing this? Look down at your feet as you stand. Do your feet rotate out a little? Perhaps a lot. Perhaps one does, one doesn't. When the feet habitually turn out there is uneven pressure on the knee joint. This is also true if you have flat arches, cramped toes or are pigeon toed. There are many variations on how to apply uneven pressure to a knee joint.
Try bringing the feet parallel so that the first little toe points straight forward from the middle of your ankle, not the big toe. Allow the big toe and joint to be very slightly in. If you torque your knee joints to any extent then this is going to feel odd. You may find you suddenly become knock-kneed! Correct alignment feels very strange if it is not your habit. You will find it difficult to maintain this position unless you give it your full concentration. It takes practice both on the mat and off.
This issue is harder to remedy and so I suggest you come along to a class for some attention!
Knees as a vital link - the wobble point for strength.
I would like to say some more about our knees. We tend to neglect our knees unless they hurt. Yesterday, I decided to give mine some particular attention as I practised the standing postures, and something interesting happened. I felt an energetic release down my body that felt a little wobbly but very good. I felt more grounded. When I am focusing on the sensations of my knees I am feeling for their position. I am seeking an alignment where I can feel a direct connection directly up and down through the bones of my legs, through the knee from foot to pelvis. It feels like a wobbly balance in the knee joint that I have to hold lightly but firmly with my knee muscles.
In Yoga we are reorganising our bodies into a healthy relationship with the ground and the sky. Our bodies are like conduits between the polarity of earth and sky and this only truly happens when our bones are positioned in a healthy relationship to each other. When the bones are aligned, life force moves through us like a row of dominos. The parts of our body which are concerned with this rebounding life force are the structures of our feet and pelvis. The feet are designed to take our body weight and ground it into the earth. They are also able to rebound that force back up through the balls and arches of the feet, through the legs and into the sacrum and pelvic floor. If the knees lock back, or are habitually bent, we lose the ability to transfer that movement through the knee joint and we block off this domino like flow through the body that sustains us. We cut ourselves off from the earth and our sense of standing in the power of our life force. So, when we lock the knees or get tight in the knees we have a false sense of security. Often we are resisting life in some way. In order to reconnect to a deeper sense of security and personal power, try exploring this area of uncertainty in the positioning if your knees.
So as you stand, or do yoga postures, feel your knees and notice what they are doing. It may be impossible for you to lock your knees or it may be a very old habit. You do not have to get it right. The act of tuning into your knee joints will have an effect, even if you are not sure what is alignment and what isn't. See what happens.
RSS Feed