Freeing the Prisoners

The knee is, quite simply, the prisoner of the hip and the ankle. If you have alignment issues in your ankles or hips, your knees will suffer. Peter Egoscue says, “Whatever the knee malady, it is directly related to what is happening in the other load-bearing joints.”

I’ve worked with many people who have knee cartilage or ligament damage. Many of them have had surgery or taken medication to deal with the problem. But, every one of the knee problems I’ve seen has been accompanied by alignment issues in the hips and/or ankles.

So, the first step to healthy knees is to pay attention to the alignment in your ankles and hips. (You can read about healthy ankles here, and a post on healthy hips is coming up in two weeks.)

It is particularly important that you pay attention to the alignment of the legs while you are standing. The knees should not be locked or hyperextended. Instead, the legs should be straight and perpendicular to the floor. Most people will also need to move their top thighs back, so the hips are directly above the ankles. Watch this video (originally shared in the Tadasana 101 post – back before I was preggers!) to see how to stand for healthy ankles, knees and hips.

The second step is to examine how the musculature that surrounds the knee joint is functioning. The most common alignment issue that results in knee pain is a problem of external rotation of the knee (one or both of the knee caps are rotating outward). This results when the muscles of the pelvic girdle are too strong and tight.

You can retrain the abductor and adductor muscles with a simple exercise. Sit on the edge of your chair; place your feet flat on the floor and lengthen up through the crown of your head. Place a tennis ball between your knees. Use the muscles of your inner thighs to squeeze and release the tennis ball 10 times. Repeat this up to four times a day.

A full yoga class focused healthy knees is available at the Every Breath I Take Virtual Yoga Studio. You can view this class on your computer or mobile device as many times as you like from May 24 – August 22, 2012, when you register here.

Do you have knee pain? Are you able to see how the alignment in your hips and/or ankles may be to blame? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.