Help with Lower Back Pain and Knee Pain

[sundarmahadevan82]

Hi All,
I recently came across aypsite and was pleased to find loads of information here. Its my first post here. There are 2 areas that i would like to be educated:

My half hour yoga routine (Last 2 weeks):
5 sets of surya namaskar A
5 sets of surya namaskar B
padangusthasana
padahasthasana
utthita trikonasana
parivratta trikonasana
utthita parsvakonasana
parivratta parsvakonasana
parsvottanasana

1) Knee pain.
While i was growing up (when i was 17/18 now 32), i played a lot of volley ball as a spiker and started hearing pops on my left knee. I was told that my knee was injured (not sure what they saw on the xray) and the liquid in the bursae was not being produced enough causing those pops. My family physician from a recent xray (now) did not find any damage to the knee joint but I still feel a sharp pain at a certain posture. Are there tests to find ligament tear/tendon tear? I recently tried vajrasana and found it discomforting (more of a pain) while not during the posture but a few hours later. I am currently doing the above said routine and find my knee going through some sort of change. I cannot say I am feeling pain but noticeably something is going on and i believe it is from the knee twists from :utthita trikonasana,parivratta trikonasana,utthita parsvakonasana,parivratta parsvakonasana,parsvottanasana. I dont stretch myself and i try to even bend my knees during these postures and try not to hurt my knee. I plan to do this routine for another month and see if there are any improvements. If i still feel the same way as now, i believe i should stop and correct myself. Do you have any suggestions for me.

2) Low Back Pain:
My interest in yoga started with my back pain this past winter. My chiropractor was able to help me to an extent but he was unable to get rid of the pain beyond a certain point. He did tell me that i do not have any compression or sciatica. Initially i was not able to bend forward and now I am much better than when i started. But on 2 or 3 occasions, i feel a pain about 2 or 3 inches above the butt crack while sitting. Is it normal due to the forward bends?

Thanks for all your assistance?

[tonightsthenight]

absolutely impossible for anyone here to diagnose you my friend. I suggest a chiro that also teaches yogasanas.

low back pain and knee pain can be many things. consider strengthening antagonist muscles and stretching. avoid anything that causes pain though discomfort may be fine

[BlueRaincoat]

Hello Sundar
Welcome to the AYP forum!

I have been suffering from back pain too (almost sorted now after taking up AYP yoga). Like you, I had nothing physically wrong that the doctors could see on scans or Xrays.

Back pain is often caused by emotional issues (tensions, stresses etc) - one of those psycho-somatic conditions that doctors can do nothing about. I found that my daily yoga routine following the AYP method has cleared up most of those subconscious/emotional problems and my back is almost sorted now. I believe it was not as much the asanas that helped - although I have been doing some of those too -  but the meditation, which worked wonders to clear up the stress that was causing my back pain.

So I heartily recommend reading through Yogani's lessons and giving his method a good go. It's good news the doctors have not seen anything wrong with your back. That means the problem is entirely in your hands to sort out.

All the best. I hope your back will feel much better soon

[sundarmahadevan82]

I have an update. I stopped doing yoga for 3 weeks now and the back pain is gone. It appears that the forward bend in the surya namaskar was the trouble for me. My hip joints were/are tight and when i bend forward, i was pushing my spine to fold causing the pain. I attended couple yoga classes and my teacher was exactly pointing this to me as an issue with forward bends with tight hip joints. But I could not continue the classes due to timing issues and started to practice on my own. I am not sure how to overcome this at this point. Thanks for those kind replies tonightsthenight and BlueRaincoat. Appreciate it.

[BlueRaincoat]

That is interesting, thank you for the update. Glad you worked out the cause.

If you want to find a yoga solution for the hip tightness, I would suggest you look for some poses that open the hips and do not involve bending the spine (e.g. Sukhasana/Easy Pose, Baddha Konasana /Butterfly). Back bends could be made safe too by working very gently. It's probably best to stick to static postures for the beginning and work with the breath to make sure you don't hurt yourself.

Movements like the sun or moon salutation can make you stretch or bend further than it's safe for you. I don't think they are very good for beginners.

Take care

[Dogboy]

Forward folds can be safely performed by spacing your feet shoulder width apart and resting your butt against a wall. Contact with a fixed object (wall) stabilizes the pose immensely.

[tonightsthenight]

quote:Originally posted by sundarmahadevan82

I have an update. I stopped doing yoga for 3 weeks now and the back pain is gone. It appears that the forward bend in the surya namaskar was the trouble for me. My hip joints were/are tight and when i bend forward, i was pushing my spine to fold causing the pain. I attended couple yoga classes and my teacher was exactly pointing this to me as an issue with forward bends with tight hip joints. But I could not continue the classes due to timing issues and started to practice on my own. I am not sure how to overcome this at this point. Thanks for those kind replies tonightsthenight and BlueRaincoat. Appreciate it.

Bend your knees to eliminate the hamstrings from the stretch. Don't round the back. Stretch external rotators of hips, the quads and hamstrings with long holds. Stay away from forward folds until you lossen the legs and hips, they are difficult to do safely if you cannot keep a lordotic curve in the lumbar spine.

Above all, see someone who is qualified to help you.