Knee Hyperextension

by Maja Zilih

knee anatomy

Many people have knee overextension, meaning that ligaments and tendons around the knee joint are too loose. If you overextend your knees, it is advisable that you take extra care about alignment in yoga postures, to avoid loosening them even more.

There is an excellent article in Yoga Journal written by Julie Gudmestad (J.G.): http://www.yogajournal.com/practice/997

It first suggests how to establish whether you hyperextend – stand in a normal standing position with your profile towards the mirror. If your leg forms a straight line from ankle to hip, you are not overextending. If the leg curves back, you are.

For people with knee overextension, J.G. recommends:

1. Malasana (Garland pose) and simple squats. These tend to stretch the calves, which are usually short and tight.

2. In all straight poses, when you would otherwise push the knee back, make sure you engage the quadriceps (front thigh muscles).

To strengthen the quadriceps, highly recommended poses are Virabhadrasana (Warrior) I and Virabhadrasana (Warrior) II, as well as Utthita Parsvakonasana (Extended Side Angle). It is important to build strength in the thighs, because it will become easier and more automatic to engage them in poses that require legs to be straight.

The article further suggests the following exercises:

1. Sit on the floor with legs straight forward. Try grounding the thighs without lifting the heels of the floor. This is performed by engaging thigh muscles. If heels come off the floor, the hyperextension is taking place, so try to keep the heels down.

2. In Utthita Trikonasana (Extended Triangle), keep your mind on the front leg, moving your upper shin bone forward to the point where it is not hyper-extended any more. However, take care not to have it bent either. This exercise - J.G. suggests - may shift the weight a little from the heel (where hyperextension usually makes the person lean on) towards the ball of the foot. This is a good thing, because the weight needs to be evenly balanced on all four corners of each foot. Pressing those points activates quadriceps.

Finally, J.G. outlines common further alignment problems that occur due to hyperextension of the knees, such as: pelvis pushing forward, chest collapsing back, and the head jutting forward. This may lead to low-back and neck pain. Therefore, she concludes “as you work on moving your upper tibia forward, you may also want to move your pelvis slightly back and your chest up and forward. Your efforts to protect your knees will then coincide with important physical goals of your yoga practice: to create strong, healthy joints and a spacious, vertical posture.”

If you have general knee pain, here is one very effective exercise taught by Anusara Yoga school: Stand with your knees slightly bent. Lift the toes a little to activate your shins and keep them lifted. Place your hands on the outside of your shins and press the shins toward one another. At the same time and with the same amount of strength your thigh muscles should be pushing your thighs outwardly. In this way the knees remain above your feet, neither turning inwards neither out. Keep exercising the same force for shins-in and thighs-out for 5-10 breaths.

References:

You can find further information about knee anatomy at: http://www.eorthopod.com/public/patient_education/6507/knee_anatomy.html

a video on ACL at
http://video.about.com/sportsmedicine/Anterior-Cruciate-Ligament.htm

and useful articles on prevention of knee injuries in yoga and in general at:

http://www.yjevents.com/practice/190_1.cfm

http://www.ucsfhealth.org/adult/medical_services/ortho/hip_and_knee/kneeCare.html

*Image by: http://www.eorthopod.com/images/ContentImages/knee/knee_anatomy/knee_anatomy_intro01.jpg