I was doing my normal practice with my teacher on Wednesday morning October 3rd when I injured my right knee.
I was sitting still at the time and about to enter Marichyasana A when the tear developed in my folded right knee. There was a pulling apart sensation in the medial ligament of the knee but there was no pain then, during the rest of the practice or later that day.
My physiotherapist after examining the injury said that I should be able to continue my yoga practice with safety provided that I modified certain postures that could put stress on the injured area.
After three weeks of treatment by the physiotherapist the tear is now healed enough that it no longer bothers me during normal daily activities. During my yoga practice however it still bothers me in a few postures and I am continuing to modifying these postures to reduce the stress on the injured area.
I have found that it is normal for an injury to be healed well enough for normal activity and still not be completely healed and affected by yoga postures.
A couple of years ago I dropped a laptop on my foot, edge on, and badly bruised the top of my foot. Again after visiting the physiotherapist for a couple of weeks I was walking about normally. In my yoga practice however there were a few postures that caused the injury to be stressed. For these poses, I would not go as deeply into the posture or I would modify the posture to reduce or remove the stress to the injury. Gradually over the following six months the injured area continued to heal and eventually was no longer bothered by the yoga postures.
If you should injury yourself, you should check with your health care professional to confirm that it is safe to resume your yoga practice. Once you resume your practice be sure to advise your teacher of the injury and get some guidance on which postures should be avoided and which postures should be modified.
Doing yoga postures mindfully and carefully and with guidance can usually assist with the strengthening and continued healing of the injured area.
November 2007 Newsletter
