Knee injuries are common sports and exercise related injury. These types of injuries most often occur in the practice of yoga because we ignore a basic principle of yoga and push into certain asanas. Yoga is non competitive by nature and we are supposed to move at our own pace, yet people try to reach the full expression of every pose and ignore pain to accomplish the pose. This is not only wrong on a philosophical level, but can be dangerous.
Knee injuries are painful and take time to heal. Prevention is the best practice in any physical activity. In yoga, you can protect your knees during the asanas to avoid injury to the knee or any other area of the body. The best way to avoid injury is to use correct alignment and never force your legs into any pose.
The knee can be injured in any position where the knee is stretched or pulled in the wrong direction. Some poses that can result in injury to the knee include fish pose, seated forward bends, lotus pose and even lunges, warrior poses, or hands and knee poses can result in injury if the joints are not property aligned and you push too far.
Don’t ever force your knees or legs into any pose to avoid injuring the knees. Modify poses, use props, support the knees and only move into any pose as far as is comfortable. Pain is your body’s way of telling you that something is wrong. Forcing your knee into lotus pose or any other asana can result in damage to the knees.
If you have practiced yoga for any length of time, either in a studio or with DVDs, you have likely heard a teacher remind students to stack the joints. Stacking the joints means lining up the joints, so they are parallel. For example, in squatting or hands and knees poses, the ankles are under the knees and the shoulders, elbows and wrists are aligned. This takes the pressure off the joints and prevents injury.