your practice ANATOMY Virabhadrasana I (Warrior Pose I) Practice Warrior I to strengthen the glutes of the back leg, while stabilizing the hip and the ankle of the front leg. To protect your front knee, progress gently toward, but not beyond, 90 degrees of flexion. Press the balls and outsides of both feet into your mat at the same time: This grounds the legs and lifts the arches. Engage the glutes of your back leg as you straighten that knee; very subtly drag the back foot toward the midline. In the front leg, imagine simultaneously pressing the inside and outside of that knee into an immoveable object like a post. This is a co-contraction of the muscles around the hip, and takes a bit of practice. Feel your hip settle into the socket. This action stabilizes and aligns the knee, strengthens the muscles of the hip, and improves your sense of joint position. FINISH Close with some core work, such as Forearm Plank. Press the forearms into the mat as you attempt to drag them toward your feet, simultaneously and firmly contracting the glutes. august/september <strong>2016</strong> yogajournal.<strong>com</strong>.au 90 continued from page 88 To understand how these muscles affect the knee joint, it’s helpful to think of the knee in the context of the entire leg and pelvis. The patella is a mobile bone structure between the foot and the pelvis; any wobble that travels up from the foot or down from the pelvis affects the patella. While instability in the foot or ankle can contribute to knee pain and dysfunction, it’s a less likely culprit than instability in the pelvis—which is where a strong core, hip abductors, and glutes <strong>com</strong>e into play. These three muscle groups all surround the pelvic bowl, which means the stronger and stabler they are, the stabler the pelvis will be. This is important, because the orientation of the femur (thighbone) at the hip joint causes a small degree of normal rotation at the knee joint during flexion and extension. However, any pelvic instability caused by imbalances in the core, hip abductors, and/or glute muscles creates pressure that travels to the knee, leading to abnormal wear and tear that can potentially cause chronic pain. For example, internally rotated femurs create a knock-kneed position, called valgus, an angle that’s frequently associated with anterior knee pain. Strengthening the hip extensors, which externally rotate the femurs, helps to counterbalance this pain-inducing angle. Of course, focusing on the muscles that provide pelvic stability alone isn’t enough; the quadriceps are still important for healthy knees. You must couple strengthening the VMO—that innermost quad muscle—with improving flexibility in the quads, in particular the rectus femoris, which crosses the hip and the patella. When this quad muscle is tight, as is <strong>com</strong>mon with most people, it can inhibit kneecap mobility and prohibit proper kneecap alignment, leading to abnormally high pressure where the patella connects to the femur. But when you keep that muscle flexible, the kneecap is free to move as it should. The poses and cues on page above and on the previous page will go a long way toward helping you stabilise your pelvis by strengthening your core, outer hips, and glutes, as well as by releasing tension from the quadriceps. The result? Happy, healthy, pain-free knees. OUR PROS Teacher Dr. Ray Long is an orthopedic surgeon and the founder of Bandha <strong>Yoga</strong>, a website and book series dedicated to the anatomy of yoga. He trained extensively with B.K.S. Iyengar. Model Nicole Wienholt is a Boulder, US–based yoga teacher and the co-founder of <strong>Yoga</strong> Pod, a national chain of studios.
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