When actively participating in sports such as soccer, tennis, or bee keeping, proper leg stretches are key to keep healthy knees. Protecting the patella (knee cap) and meniscus (cartilage between the femur and tibia that cushions the force of weight from the body) can be tricky. Here are a few tips to incorporate:
In yoga, lift the toes on all standing leg stretches such as forward bends, triangle, and twisted triangle. When the front leg is bent in poses such as warrior 1 and 2, lift only the front toes. This action activates the lower leg muscles, which protect the knee from hyperextension. Track the knee over the ankle, and never past the toes. If you have a sensitive patella, (also known as gardener’s knee), place a blanket under your knee cap when kneeling in poses like camel, to protect the bone. If your pain comes from flexion of the knee (bending the knee), place a rolled up towel wedged behind the knee to create space in the joint.
Lucky for you, the Yoga Tune Up® pose Twisted Triangle is specifically geared toward open hips and healthy knees. The lengthening of the illiotibial tract in this pose (the band of fascia running down the outside of the leg largely responsible for supporting the knee), will give a greater amount of accessibility in both contraction and release allowing for greater support of both the patella and meniscus.
Keep your knees happy and healthy and they will thank you down the road!
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I play a lot of tennis and I am hoping that my toes in my yoga poses will help relieve some of my knee pain. Thanks.
HI Amy~ SO glad you read the blog! Although lifting your toes will help support your knee, it is necessary to also use the leg stretches. Also, self care for the IT band, using the Yoga Tune Up balls/foam rollers. Jill is releasing a knee-hab video in a few months too, look out for that!
Thanks for the info! I never knew that the lengthening of the illiotibial tract in the twisting triangle pose will give a greater amount of accessibility in both contraction and release allowing for greater support of both the patella and meniscus.
I think these are great tips, I will start using them in my practice and hopefully my knees will feel better.
This is a great tip for hyperextension- alot easier to remember than bending my knees which always feels slightly uncomfortable.
These tips are great and helpful in so many activities other than sports. As a former dancer I have lots of knee clickies in spite of being pretty strong in my legs. I also find it very difficult to extend my toe (must have been all the ballet). Its amazing to see how connected they are. I will definately be mindful of my toesies from now on.
During my next yoga class, I’m going to pay a lot of attention to lifting my toes. I’m sure my knees will feel much better after. Thanks!
Hello, That was a awesome post thank you very much for sharing that information with me.
Thanks so much Tiffany–your post is chock full of excellent tips for ensuring knee health and comfort during yoga asana practice. I especially like the toe lifts!
Tiffany your blogs are full of information that makes me want to do more research so thank you. I received the toe lifting tip about a year ago from another yogi but never made the anatomy connection this is why I love YTU training now I know why my wize yogi instructors cued such things. I have knee issues and love to keep active I love the tip about the illiotibial tract lenthening (this is my issue – i think! ha) I had to write it all down so I can dive in further to take better care of myself and hopefully other’s I will repost as if this works out for me you will have helped! many thanks for including all the anatomy and pose suggestions and some of my ‘om’ work.
I used to hyper-extend my right leg in certain poses, particularly the triangle poses, which later resulted in an unhappy miniscus. I learned to microbend the knee, but that tends to make the poses a bit more difficult as I must also focus on managing the angle of bend. Flexing the toes is a nice option. Thank you!
Great preventative tips! I always remember to do a lifting of my toes in ukatasana and my sitting forward bends but never in triangle or twisting triangle. This information will def. be used during my next practice on the mat!
These are great tips that I have never heard before. I have a bad right knee and I am going to start incorporating the tips about lifting your toes today.
I’m also a knee hyperextender. I find it hard to microbend the knee and which seems to tense my quads. I will definitely try lifting my toes. So simple yet brilliant! Thanks!