Your teacher makes it look easy, but you neet to be careful with your folded knee in this pose.
Have you ever watched your teacher demonstrate this pose. They bring their heel casually into their hip, lower their knee to the floor and fold forward with ease.
Why is it that when you attempt this pose that your folded knee starts to hurt as your draw your foot up your leg towards your hip.
The problem with this pose is not with your knee. Your knee is the victim here and your hip joint is the villain. The tight muscles around your hip and thigh joint is causing the problem with your knee.
If you approach Ardha Baddha Padma Paschimottanasna with care you will be able to develop the flexibility you need in your hip to let your leg externally rotate and this will permit your heel to move into your hip.
Let’s have a look at how to accomplish this.
What is Ardha Baddha Padma Paschimottanasana
Ardha Baddha Padma Pashimottanasana translated from Sanskrit means “Half bound lotus forward fold”. It is a seated pose with one leg folded into the hip and the other leg straight as you bring your torso forward and down towards your extended leg.
This pose occurs very early in the Primary series of Ashtanga Yoga. It is a reasonably challenging pose that requires flexibility in several areas of your body.
How do you do the pose
You start in Dandasana, sitting on the floor with your legs together and out in front of you.
Next you fold your right leg and place your right ankle on your left leg near your left knee. Gradually you draw your right foot up your left leg. Your right heel presses into your left hip and your folded right knee rests on the floor
Hold your right foot with your left hand from below. Hold the little toe side of your right foot with your left hand and point your elbow straight back behind you.
Now take your right arm around your back and hold onto the big toe of your right foot with your right hand.
Once you have the foot in position and you are holding on to your right foot with your right hand you tip your hip forward, take your torso forward and you take your left hand forward and hold the little toe side of your left foot.
Eventually your torso will be laying on your left thigh and you will be gazing towards the toe of your left foot.
Hold this position for several breaths.
You have now completed the pose. In order to get here you will have overcome several areas of challenge in your body. This pose like many yoga poses works on several areas of the body at once.
What are the challenge with this pose
There are four areas that this pose requires a fair bit of flexibility in. If the flexibility is lacking you will have difficulty completing the pose.
- Your hamstrings may be short which will prevent your hips from tipping forward.
- Your shoulders may have reduced mobility which will prevent your arm from going around your back to hold onto your foot.
- Your back may be stiff and prevent your hand from holding on to your right foot from behind your back.
- Your hip muscles may be short and prevent the right foot from reaching your left hip.
We will be looking in detail at the last one of these challenges. The tight muscles in your hip and thigh joint will prevent your right foot from reaching your left hip and will put your right knee at risk of being injured.
How to know that you are having a problem with hip flexibility
There are two signs that indicate that you have tight hip muscles around your hip and thigh joint.
The first sign is that your right leg rises up into the air as you bring your right foot on top of your left thigh. You will not be able to bring the knee down to the floor once the ankle of your right foot is on top of your left thigh.
The second sign that you have a tight hip joint is that you can not bring your right foot up your left leg all the way to your left hip. As you move the right foot up your left leg your right knee joint begins to complain.
These two signs, the lifted knee and the discomfort or pain in the knee, tell you that you have a problem with the muscles around your hip and thigh joint.
These muscles are preventing your leg from moving into position. Because of the tight muscles around your hip and thigh joint the leg cannot externally rotate enough to allow the knee to close properly and allow your foot to travel up your leg and into your hip.
What is at risk if your hip is tight
Because of the tight muscles at your hip joint with the leg, the thigh is unable to externally rotate as you draw the right foot up the left leg towards the hip. The closer the foot gets to the hip the more external rotation is required.
What is external rotation of the leg
External rotation of the leg means that the leg turns to the outside away from the centre of the body.
Sit on the floor with your legs straight out in front of you. Move the toes of your right foot away from your left foot and down towards the floor without moving your right heel. This movement of the thigh is external rotation.
Why is lack of external rotation a problem
The knee is the weak joint when compared to the hip joint. the knee joint is strongest and most stable when you fold the leg forward and backward.
When you fold your knee and let your leg fall out to the side away from the other leg and you attempt to lift your foot on top of your other leg you are requiring a great deal of external rotation in the leg. This external rotation of the leg will allow the knee joint to turn to the side and reduce the likelihood that the movement of the foot up the leg will cause the knee joint to bend to the side.
If the external rotation does not happen the knee joint will be moving more and more to the side which will cause the ligaments and tendons around the knee to be overstretched. This is when injury to your knee will happen.
If the leg externally rotates enough then the knee joint will be aligned in the right direction and you will be able to safely bring the right foot up the left leg and into the left hip.
How to avoid injury to the knee
Monitor the sensation in the knee. There should never be any pain or discomfort. As the right foot travels up the left leg you should stop when the knee starts to complain.
This is an example of finding the edge and challenging it. Bring the foot up your leg until it just begins to complain. Move the foot back down the left leg slightly until the sensation goes away. This is the edge.
Now tip the hips forward slightly and bring the torso forward slightly. This movement will increase the tension on the muscles of the hip and thigh joint. If this movement causes discomfort for the knee back off until the knee is comfortable. Hold this position for several breaths.
What you will discover as you hold this position is that the muscles in the hip will gradually relax and you will be able to move the top of the hip forward a tiny amount and hold in this new position.
Perhaps next time you do the pose you will be able to bring the foot a tiny amount higher up the leg towards your hip.
The journey is not complete until you have your heel firmly into your hip and your knee is resting comfortably on the floor.
Why does one of my feet go further up the leg?
This is quite common. You will find in many poses that you are more flexible when you do it on one side compared to the other. You may be more flexible in one pose on the left side and then when you do another similar pose you may discover that you are more flexible on the opposite side.
This a normal occurrence and not something to be worried about.
Summary
Your knee is a weak joint when you attempt to externally rotate your leg and bring your heel into your hip in this pose. Move carefully and monitor your knee. Do not attempt to force your heel into your hip if your knee is complaining.
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Your teacher makes it look easy, but you need to be careful with your folded knee in this pose.
