Say Goodbye to Knee Pain

By Paige Greenfield

Reduce inflammation and other woes with easy poses

One in four women experiences knee pain daily, and women are up to eight times more likely to suffer knee injuries than their male counterparts. The key to avoiding knee problems is keeping the whole body aligned.

“Yoga is beneficial for all your joints, but particularly your knees because the poses bring the entire body into balance,” says Sandy Blaine, author of Yoga for Healthy Knees and codirector of the Alameda Yoga Station in Alameda, California. Many poses strengthen and stretch your inner and outer quadriceps as well as your hamstrings, calves, and ankles, which collectively keep your kneecaps stable and strong. Sustaining poses during your practice sends blood rushing through your muscles and ligaments, delivering nourishment and oxygen to those areas, which reduces inflammation, speeds healing, and repairs damage.

Blaine, no stranger to knee woes (she experienced chronic pain until she took up yoga more than 20 years ago), shares tips to keep knees happy and healthy.

Do the right kind of yoga
All yoga is not created equal, which is why we love it. But when it comes to knees, Blaine recommends a style that teaches correct alignment in every pose and increases your knowledge of how your joints are meant to move. In other words, take Iyengar or Anusara and avoid more strenuous styles like Ashtanga, Bikram, or Vinyasa. “Stick with a slower, more therapeutic practice,” Blaine says. “Otherwise, you’ll just move within the patterns already established in your body, which can worsen existing conditions.”

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