This is a live excerpt of a recording during a yoga enrichment teacher training lecture for a group of yogis studying to be teachers with Jes Rosenberg.
Simple Knee Anatomy Lesson:
The kneecap is designed to slide along a groove in the femur, and it has to move smoothly within that groove to do its job well. If it goes “off track” (and it often does), it grinds away at the cartilage underneath and destabilizes the knee. The ensuing wear and tear is a key reason for knee replacement surgery, which a lot of people believe is necessary because they think the cartilage is “gone.” But the truth is that cartilage can grow back, albeit slowly.
The main problem is that if we don’t correct the imbalanced pull of muscles on the kneecap, we will continue to grind our cartilage down faster than our body can replenish it.
• Imbalances that might otherwise lead to chronic wear and tear (and ensuing pain) in your knees.
• A little extra mindfulness in aligning and working your legs in these poses will enhance the natural therapeutic benefits these poses have to offer.
• If you have chronic pain in your knees, if they “snap, crackle, and pop” when you bend or extend them, or if they tend to hyperextend, you may have improper tracking or “dislocation” of the kneecap. This misalignment causes the most common kind of chronic knee pain and damage to the knee joint, which develop slowly over time.
Things We Will Cover In This Tech:
• Adductor Strengthening
• Muscles That Surround Femur - Innermost Quadriceps (The Vastus Medialis) Lateralis - Outer
• Hamstring Strengthening
• Popoliti = How To ‘Floss The Knee’
• Glutes & Glute Bouncing
Postures, Modifications, And Strengthening Tricks:
1. Spelling with a block at knees
2. Propped Easy Pose
3. Hero pose trick
4. Supported bridge with block
5. Propped head in child’s pose
6. Puppy dog
7. Down dog - with bent knees
8. Calf raises - standing
9. Utkatasana A & B versions
10. Supported chair - against the wall
11. Tadasana - straight legged poses - ALIGNMENT
12. Tree - no knee stand
13. Warriors - warrior two trick
14. Warrior two against wall
15. Warrior two karate chop adjustment
16. Crescent lunge hand fist ex
17. The real extended side angle
a. Isometrics
18. Triangle - hypermobility - calf trick, block
19. Ardha Chandra - with block - against wall
20. Pigeon and Thread the needle- flex foot
