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Question
19 Jan 2006
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weak knees
When I get up my knees often hurt. Please can you recommend some exercises to strengthen my knees and to relieve the pain.
Yoga
Hi Lee - yoga poses practiced with conscious good alignment of the leg bones and joints can be a wonderful tool for building strong, healthy knees.
The knee is so vulnerable and sensitive to alignment because it is a shallow, basically unstable joint. The flat surfaces of the bones make the knee dependent on ligaments (which join bone to bone) and tendons (which join muscle to bone) to hold it together. You would need to practice carefully, with a great deal of awareness - and with proper, experienced guidance but the benefits would be great. Many of the standing postures will increase the strength of the muscles and ligamnets supporting the knee but I suggest you take time out to find the right teacher - a good starting point might be to find an experienced Iyengar teacher in your area because they focus a lot on alignment and yoga's therapeutic side.
Good luck.
Chris
The knee is so vulnerable and sensitive to alignment because it is a shallow, basically unstable joint. The flat surfaces of the bones make the knee dependent on ligaments (which join bone to bone) and tendons (which join muscle to bone) to hold it together. You would need to practice carefully, with a great deal of awareness - and with proper, experienced guidance but the benefits would be great. Many of the standing postures will increase the strength of the muscles and ligamnets supporting the knee but I suggest you take time out to find the right teacher - a good starting point might be to find an experienced Iyengar teacher in your area because they focus a lot on alignment and yoga's therapeutic side.
Good luck.
Chris
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