The extent of your yoga practice when you have a broken knee depends on the nature of the break. A minor patellar fracture will limit only your kneeling poses that place weight directly on your knee. More severe breaks -- especially if you've had recent surgery to repair the damage and must now wear an immobilizing cast -- may limit your standing poses as well. Seated poses will accommodate your injury until your knee heals.
The Nature of the Break
Depending on the spot your patellar fracture occurred, you will probably either have trouble straightening your leg or difficulty bending it. A shattered kneecap with multiple break points might cause pain at the extremes of either position. If you've recently broken your patella, you'll face swelling; an older break might be ready to bear the weight of standing exercises. Where you hurt and the age of your injury determines which yoga poses, or asanas, you incorporate into your yoga session. Yoga asanas should link your mind and body, not cause you pain. Immediately cease any pose that makes your broken knee hurt.
Straight-legged Seated Poses
If you're able to straighten your leg more easily than you can bend it, focus on straight-legged poses. Start with the classic staff pose, dandasana. This asana puts no pressure on knees or legs. Instead, the pose focuses on the pelvic bones, erector spinae muscles and shoulder girdle. If you feel discomfort in your knee when flexing your feet in staff pose, leave your feet soft and concentrate on upper-body posture. From the staff position, move to a forward bend to get a spinal stretch. A modified seated side bend works your serratus muscles and abdominal obliques as you keep your legs in staff position. Open your legs into a V and lean forward in a wide-legged forward bend to open your hip joints.
Bent-legged Seated Poses
If your knee injury allows you to bend your knees comfortably, work on cross-legged asanas. Begin with the sukhasana, or easy pose, that resembles a loose version of sitting tailor-fashioned. Switch legs if sukhasana causes discomfort to your injured knee. While the bound-angle pose -- sitting erect with the soles of your feet touching -- might look easy on a knee that can't straighten, it can put twisting pressure on the knee, so take care moving into this position. The lotus pose, or padmasana, opens your hips while putting little pressure on your knees if you're limber enough to hold the pose. Avoid the full hero pose, virasana, while your knee heals. Even if your knee permits you to get into the pose, getting out of it could put undue stress on your injury.
Standing Poses
Once your knee can bear your weight comfortably, try some simple standing poses. Stick to asanas that keep your knee in alignment. Any twisting motion could cause pain or instability that could lead to a fall. The first pose to try is the mountain pose, tadasana. Although it may feel like a simple standing posture, mountain pose brings your entire body into alignment if you remain conscious of maintaining the pose as well as you can. Because your weight settles on both knees in an even, static fashion in this pose, tadasana should be the first standing pose you attempt on your broken knee. The mountain pose is your foundation for standing forward and side bends. Save the warrior poses for later in your healing process; in these asymmetrical poses, your knees provide stability to hold the pose.
Protecting Your Knee
Your injured knee will probably let you know if you're trying an asana that could cause harm. Avoiding asanas such as the equestrian, camel and cat poses that put all your weight on your knees is common sense, but it's easy to bump an injured knee accidentally when shifting from pose to pose. Concentrate on maintaining your flow between asanas as well as on holding the poses themselves. While you should remain mindful of your injury, you should also continue your yoga practice. A recent presentation to the American College of Sports Medicine details a 2011 George Washington University study that found yoga practitioners reported less joint pain than people who practiced other forms of exercise, so continuing your yoga as you heal may pay dividends in reduced pain once you recover.
Member Comments