Yoga for Healthy Knees: What You Need to Know for Pain Prevention and Rehabilitation (Rodmell Press Yoga Shorts)

Written by a yoga teacher who fixed her own knee pain with the help of yoga, I found this book very easy to use. Here's a few reasons why I liked it: -it's not too long (its smaller than I pictured, 95 pages, but that was fine with me -the idea here is to help your knees out by strengthening what's weak and loosening what's tight -this is accomplished through yoga poses which you hold for a minute or so -there are 3 different sequences of poses depending on your needs (nice) -there's even a short routine for those busy days we all have Finding a yoga teacher is suggested, but with all the pictures, descriptions, and sheer straightforwardness of the poses, I don't feel like it's a must. In short, this is a good, safe place to start if you have a general knee problem. Also recommend The 5-Minute Plantar Fasciitis Solution for those who suffer from plantar fasciitis.

I had knee pain due to runners knee (patella tracking) and started physical therapy. I did PT twice a week for 4-5 months and the pain worsened and became chronic. I could not exercise and even sitting at work was painful. I went to an orthopedist and had x-rays and a MRI to rule out other issues and he found nothing other than the patella tracking issue and suggested me to continue on with more PT. At this point I decided to try yoga, even though the PT felt it would be a waste of my time. I got this book since it was specifically for knees and went through the full routine for a week and felt much better and went cold turkey on PT as it was doing nothing other than thinning my wallet. Within a month I could exercise again (not run though, too much pressure under the kneecap still). After 3-4 months I can run again with no discomfort. For maximum sustained benefit Yoga needs to be practiced consistently and I do find if I go too long my knees will both me slightly, much like the author warns of. The poses in this book are basic and were not intimidating to me with the exception of Hero Pose which I did not attempt for a few months, but now I can comfortably hold the pose for a few minutes with no support. Explanations are excellent and pictures are sufficient. Overall a must buy for those with knee pain.

This guide book should not only be read by people with knee problems, but also by those wanting to develop the bodily awareness that comes from an understanding of basic yoga asanas. While I don't suffer from knee problems, I was drawn to Sandy Blaine's concise descriptions and the attention to detail for the 17 poses presented. This is particularly true for her advice on how to internally support our knees without locking them.

This book is very useful for those of us with knee problems. Some of the poses presented may be familiar from other sources, but the instructions for doing them are very detailed and supplement information available elsewhere (in the extended triangle pose, for instance). The focus on how your knees specifically are feeling (and should be feeling) in each pose is great. I also like the model this book uses; she looks like a regular person who has become flexible through consistent practice, not like some Olympic gymnast that you could never hope your efforts to match. I've been doing about 7 of these poses a day for about a week, and my knee pain has already lessened. Yoga is the best! This book is a bargain.

I knew my knee problems were due to muscle weakness and imbalance and my origninal plan was to just strength train the muscles surrounding them and avoid the Hero Pose forever. This book showed me how the muscles radiating from the hip and pelvis affect the knee and how to gently elongate them. The pose before a modified Hero Pose is the Half Frog, which stretches the exact muscles required for me to sit in it for 45 seconds with no discomfort. The asansas for strengthing the leg include balance poses which really, REALLY fire off the necessary muscles in the leg to stabilize the knees. To do the therapeutic program one goes through the poses in order as presented and it takes about 45 minutes. The author offers a shorter program and my only complaint is that the page numbers aren't included next to the listed poses.