Knee injury recovery can be daunting, painful and uncertain. However, it does not have to be! Yoga (yes, there is yoga for knee injuries!) is a wonderful tool you can use to assistance strengthen and lengthen the muscle tissues surrounding the knee, assisting help in your recovery post-injury.
After tearing my ACL and going via surgery to repair my knee, I felt lost and unsure about my recovery course of action. Luckily, I discovered yoga, and it helped me boost the mobility, strength and flexibility in my leg post-surgery.
In addition to physical therapy, yoga was a gentle and protected way to assistance make self-assurance back in my body.
Yoga can be beneficial for recovering from so quite a few diverse injuries, and the knee is no exception.
Yoga for Knee Injuries – Use These 9 Poses to Help in Your Knee Injury Recovery:
Based on my personal recovery and anatomical expertise as a yoga teacher and private trainer, I place with each other a list of the leading nine yoga postures that had the most effect on my knee injury recovery.
Depending on your injury, these postures can be carried out anyplace from two weeks to two and a half months post-injury. Make positive to enter each and every posture gradually and mindfully!
Practice These 10 Yoga Poses to Relieve Knee Pain
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Modifications are offered for all levels. First, seated postures are presented. Then, for these who are capable to place weight on the leg of their injured knee, there are standing postures listed to assistance boost strength and stability in the legs.
Recovering from knee injuries demands a lot of patience and compassion. Healing is not linear, and each and every person’s recovery journey is one of a kind. Pease make positive to seek advice from with your medical professional or physical therapist on regardless of whether these postures are protected for you to do.
1. Locust Pose (Salabhasana)
To develop more comfort, spot a blanket or some thing soft below your injured knee.
Let’s attempt it:
- Begin by laying on the ground on your belly
- Rest a single side of your face on the ground and spot your arms by your side with your palms facing up
- On an inhale, lift your chest and your arms off the ground and bring your shoulder blades closer with each other
- Keep your neck neutral by slightly pulling your chin down toward your chest
- You can remain right here for 5 deep breaths without having activating the reduce body, or continue to the next step
- Squeeze your feet and legs with each other and activate your glutes and quads
- Keeping your legs straight and feet with each other, use your reduce back muscle tissues to gradually lift your legs off the ground
- Stay right here for 5 slow, deep breaths, constantly lifting your chest and legs larger on every single inhale
- After 5 breaths, release your limbs back to the floor and spot the opposite side of your face on the ground
- Rest for a handful of breaths, and repeat two to 3 more instances
2. Seated Forward Fold (Paschimottanasana)
You ought to really feel the stretch in your reduce back, calves and/or middles of the back of your legs.
Let’s attempt it:
- Begin sitting up on the ground with your legs in front of you
- Modification: spot a towel or pillow underneath your knees
- Bend your knees, maintaining your toes flexed and facing up toward the sky
- Sit up as straight as you can and slightly scooch your hips back
- Leading with your chest, start to fold more than your legs, reaching for your shins or toes.
- Allow your head to unwind as you fold forward and release any tension in your face and neck
- Take 5 slow breaths, enabling your self to go deeper into the stretch with every single exhale
- For a deeper stretch, gradually straighten your legs out a small more on each and every breath by inching your heels forward. You can also pull your toes toward you for a deeper stretch in your calves
- To come out, release your legs/feet and gradually lift your head and neck up
- Rest for a handful of breaths, and repeat two to 3 more instances
3. Head-to-Knee Pose (Janu Sirsasana)
For a modification, spot a pillow below a single or each knees.
- Begin seated with your legs extended out in front of you
- Hug your proper knee in towards your chest as comfortably as you can with your variety of motion, then gently drop your knee to the side. The bottom of your proper foot ought to be touching the inside of your left leg
- Sit up straight, bend your left leg, and start to fold more than your left leg
- Fold forward as far as you can, then unwind your head and neck
- To go deeper, gradually inch your left heel forward to straighten out your leg
- Hold for 5 to ten deep breaths
- To come out, gently bring your body upright and straighten out your proper leg
- Repeat two to 3 instances on each and every side
4. Seated Twist (Ardha Matsyendrasana)
Let’s attempt it:
- Begin sitting up with each of your legs extended out in front of you
- Bend your proper leg and cross it more than leading of your left leg, putting your foot just outdoors and above your left knee
- Sit up as straight as you can, and spot your proper arm behind you
- Lift your left arm up toward the sky, and gradually start to twist your torso to the proper
- Place the outdoors of your left tricep on the outdoors of your proper knee, leveraging it to assistance you twist a small deeper
- If you are unable to twist this deep, you can spot your left hand on your proper shin and continue to gently twist
- On every single inhale, assume about sitting up a small straighter
- On every single exhale, twist just a small bit more
- Stay right here for 5 to ten deep breaths
- With handle, gently unwind and bring your torso back to center
- Straighten your proper leg and come back to your beginning position
- Repeat on the other side
10 Yoga Poses to Strengthen Your Knees and Prevent Injury
5. Reclined Knee-to-Chest (Ardha Apanasana)
By going gradually, you give the muscle tissues surrounding the knee joint space to unwind and open up.
Let’s attempt it:
- Begin by lying flat on your back with your legs extended and your arms by your side
- Slowly bend your proper knee and spot your hands on the front of your shin
- Gently guide your knee up, hugging it towards your chest as far as it can go
- You can slide your forearms below your knee (involving your hamstrings and calve muscle tissues) to develop more space in the knee joint
- Scan your body to see if you are holding tension in any region. Relax and release these locations
- Stay right here for 5 breaths prior to releasing and extending your leg back to the ground
- The crucial right here is not to force your knee into deeper variety of motion – it is to go gradually and enable your body to unwind and open up in its personal time
- Repeat on the other side
6. Chair Pose (Utkatasana)
Keep your hips larger with significantly less bend in your knees for a reduce intensity.
Let’s attempt it:
- Begin in Mountain Pose with your feet hips-distance apart and your arms by your side
- Step your feet with each other, and lift your arms up toward the sky
- Modification: preserve your hands at your heart or on your hips
- Begin to reduce your hips down and back, like you are about to sit on a chair
- Shift your weight more into your heels, maintaining your hips low
- You ought to be capable to peek more than your knees at your toes, so shift your hips back a small if you can not see them
- Slightly tuck your tailbone below to engage your reduce core
- Keep your chest lifted and your shoulders pulled down and back
- Take 5 deep breaths
- Slowly straighten your legs and release your arms by your sides to come out of the pose
7. Crescent Lunge
This posture assists help the knee by developing strength in the inner thighs, quads and glutes, but can place added tension on the knee prior to it is prepared. Ease into this pose and only go as far your knee can deal with.
Let’s attempt it:
- Begin in Mountain Pose with your feet hip-distance apart, arms by your sides, and each feet facing forward
- Take a step back with your left leg, about 3 to 4 feet
- Keep your proper knee in line with your proper ankle, tracking your knee toward your pinky toe
- If this is as well intense, do not bend your knee as a lot and/or use a wall or chair for help
- Lift your back heel off the ground and come higher on your left toes
- Place your hands on your hips and use them to guide your hips so they are each facing forward in a single straight line
- Activate the muscle tissues in your back leg to get your leg as straight as you can
- Bring your hands to your heart center, or lift your arms up toward the sky
- Soften your shoulders and release any tension you could be holding in your face or upper body
- Breathe seven lengthy, slow, deep breaths
- To come out, push off of your back foot and come back to Mountain Pose
- Repeat two to 3 instances on each sides
8. Tree Pose (Vrksasana)
By strengthening your reduce body, you develop more strength and help for your knee(s).
Let’s attempt it:
- Begin in Mountain Pose with your feet hip-distance apart and your arms by your sides
- Shift a small more weight into your proper foot, securing your self so you really feel grounded and balanced
- Use a wall or chair to hold onto to assistance you balance. Over time, you can progress to no help as your balance and strength improves
- Begin to bend your left knee and swivel it to the left, opening up your hip
- Depending on your hip mobility and exactly where you are in your knee injury recovery, you can come higher on your left toes and preserve the bottom of your foot on the inside of your ankle
- You can also slide your foot up to the inside of your calf or spot it on the inside of your inner proper thigh, avoiding direct compression to the proper knee to safeguard the joint
- Make positive you are not locking out your proper knee – if you hyperextend in your joints, make positive to preserve a slight bend in your proper leg
- Find your drishti (a point you can spot your focus on) and take 5 to ten breaths
- To come out of the pose, gradually release your left foot with handle back to the ground
- Repeat on each sides two instances
9. Side Angle Pose (Parsvakonasana)
This pose can place stress on the knee if you do not have the strength in your reduce body and core to help. A shorter stance will really feel more comfy and puts significantly less stress on your back (straight) leg also, you can alleviate stress by aligning your back heel to a wall.
When you really feel you are prepared, this posture can seriously strengthen the inner thighs, quads and hips, developing more help for the knee.
Let’s attempt it:
- Begin in Mountain Pose with each feet facing forward
- Take a step back with your left leg, about 3 to 4 feet, and turn your back foot to the left, putting it at a 90-degree angle
- Depending on which feels greatest for you, line your heel or arch of your back foot in line with the heel of your front foot
- Keep a deep bend in your front leg so your proper knee is in line with your proper ankle
- If you really feel your proper knee caving inward, push your knee out so that it tracks more toward your pinky toe
- Shift a small more weight to the outer edge of your back foot to obtain a balance involving the weight in your front and back leg
- Keep your back leg as straight as you can by squeezing your quad. It’s okay to preserve a slight bend if this is as well a lot stress on your back knee
- Extend your proper arm forward and your left arm back, coming into a Warrior II position with your hands in line with your shoulders
- Keeping your reduce body specifically exactly where it is, extend your torso forward and spot your proper elbow on the inside of your proper leg
- Try not to spot as well a lot weight on your leg – use your core to preserve you lifted
- If you require extra help, spot a block on the inside of your proper foot and spot your hand on the block
- Lift your left arm up to the sky, and appear at your hand
- Hold for 5 deep breaths
- To come out, start to straighten out your proper leg
- Lift your torso up, push off of your back foot, and step forward into Mountain Pose
- Repeat on each sides two instances
Use Yoga for Knee Injuries to Help Your Knee Injury Recovery
Great job! Remember to be gentle, go slow, and ask your body what it requires.
By practicing these yoga for knee injuries postures and following the guidance of your medical professional, your knee will recover and really feel stronger than ever in no time!
All integrated data is not intended to treat or diagnose. The views expressed are these of the author and ought to be attributed solely to the author. For healthcare concerns, please seek advice from your healthcare provider.
