Could doing power yoga 2 - 4 times a week for 1.5 hours be hurting my joints?

May 26, 2009 10:51 PM

Could doing power yoga 2 - 4 times a week for 1.5 hours be hurting my joints?

I'm one of the lucky few people who has had almost no problems with my joints ever. I have some issues with my lower back, but that's really it. That being said I'm not much of an athlete, so that may explain why my knees and hips are in such good shape.

I started doing pretty intense power yoga about 2 months ago. Since then I've noticed my knees and hips are bothering me more. Mostly this is in class while I am doing the poses, but sometimes my knees and hips feel weird/painful outside of class. Not exactly sore, but like things aren't really lining up quite right and it definitely hurts.

I know yoga is supposed to be great for your joints, but I feel like the intense power yoga is hurting mine. The yoga I'm doing is definitely intense and they really push you. Could the yoga be hurting my joints? Am I just experiencing the normal aches and pains of getting back in shape?

For what it's worth I'm very flexible, but not very muscular. I've also gotten into yoga after about 6 months of minimal physical activity and about a 10 pound weight gain.

posted by whoaali to health & fitness (11 comments total)

Some aches and pains are normal after an intense yoga class. Yoga can hurt your joints if you're not practicing with proper alignment, though. For example, in standing poses where one knee is bent your knee should be over the supporting foot. If the knee extends beyond the foot or drifts to the right or left, you're putting a lot of strain on the joint and that will take a toll.

Does your class cover alignment in poses? If your teacher isn't giving guidance and adjustments, consider going to a different class once a week that does cover alignment so that you can learn the fundamentals well enough to adjust yourself.
posted by rhiannon at 11:02 PM on May 26 [1 favorite]

I have a friend in his 70's who took up yoga. When he stands or walks his feet point 45 degrees outward. After doing yoga for a while his feet started to realign and point forward. The problem with this is that his feet had been pointed outward for years and years. So when his foot position started realigning he also started getting aches in his knees. He then figured it was probably better without pain than with so he gave it up and the pains went away. His feet also went back to their original position.

Of course I'm not saying any of that has to do with you, but you may have certain muscles being strengthened that had previously not been strong, and you may feel associated aches.
posted by P.o.B. at 11:12 PM on May 26

Yoga is supposed to be cleansing practice - aligns joints, cleans lungs, helps various ills. The flip side of that is that if it is not done properly you can do yourself ill. Definitely do not ignore aching joints - its generally a sign that either your alignment is wrong or that the positions are being done in the wrong order and since each position prepares you for the next one, you are not properly prepared for the positions you are doing. Try a mysore astanga class.
posted by zia at 11:45 PM on May 26

Since you just started it's hard for you to tell if normal "done a good exercise" pain or you really are pushing too hard. Try doing fewer classes and see what happens. Pretty much all yoga schools emphasize that you should stop if you feel any pain. Yoga is much more about overcoming impatience than overcoming pain. Stop and come back to it tomorrow.. or the day after tomorrow.
posted by rainy at 3:01 AM on May 27

One of two things is at play here. As the previous posters mentioned, your joints might be sore in a good way. There are tons of tiny muscles in the joints which can become achy simply from using them.

Alternatively, the yoga class you are attending isn't very good. I suggest finding a reputable yoga studio. I would look for a studio which doesn't preface their class names with "power."
posted by satori_movement at 7:27 AM on May 27

Yoga isn't "power" anything. I agree with staroi_movement. Yoga is a meditation, quiet and inward focused. It is non~competitive. It's about breathing and stretching, strengthening, but not straining and pushing. I studied yoga and wound up at the chiropractor fairly often. Either I was pushing too hard ("power yoga?) or it's not meant for me, but when I stopped doing yoga, I also stopped going to the chiro guy. Low and slow.
posted by davoid at 8:15 AM on May 27

I guess I should clarify that I'm doing the power yoga in large part to get back in shape/lose weight. It's pretty intense and everyone is dripping in sweat by the end (it isn't that heated yoga or anything like that, it's just pretty hard). The meditation aspect is an added bonus.

I should also clarify that my knees in particular kills me during the lunges and I need to keep stopping and straightening my leg, in order to go on. I believe the place I go is pretty legit. http://www.poweryoga.com/ But then again there is virtually no correction by the teacher, which may part of my problem. I might need to go somewhere with smaller classes where the teacher will force me to do everything correctly.
posted by whoaali at 8:41 AM on May 27

"Power" yoga classes, in my experience, tend to overlook form at the expense of safety, often because the asanas come so fast and furious in the name of raising heartrate that it's impossible to properly "stick" each one. Good intense flow classes do exist though: I've taken some terrific vinyasa and ashtanga classes from experienced yogis.

If you are doing an asana correctly, it doesn't hurt (the joints anyway, I look forward to the muscle ache after giving myself a challenge). And there are modifications for pretty much every asana, there's no "one correct way" for anything. Speak to your yogi about the pains you're feeling and ask for modifications. Then do the modified asanas, religiously. It is too easy to get competitive with fellow students about bending the farthest and doing this or that without support, but yoga is really a competition only with yourself, and there is no "better" that you can be doing, only the right way for your body.

If your instructor can't help you modify the asanas, you're in the wrong place.
posted by padraigin at 8:41 AM on May 27

Didn't preview - but by any chance are you doing ashtanga? That particular practice is brutal on the knees, with all the 'lotus-y' postures. I was doing it religiously for a few months, loved it, but noticed my knees were beginning to ache. My instructor, who was a long time (20+ years) ashtanga practitioner, has had to have multiple knee surgeries in her life. When she took off for her most recent surgery, I quit, b/c I figured I would rather have healthy knees than the 'power yoga' buzz.
posted by delladlux at 9:32 AM on May 27

But then again there is virtually no correction by the teacher

I've never seen anybody do any exercise, movement, or sport that they didn't need correction on form. What's the point of a teacher/coach? You could have just bought a video and worked off that.
I would suggest maybe your best bet would be to take a step back and look for another yoga place, perhaps one that is not power yoga.
posted by P.o.B. at 1:06 PM on May 27

whoaali, any chance you could mix up your practice at all by trying a Hatha, Yin or Anusara style class in between the power classes? With power yoga they get pretty repetitive and I've found that this repetition can make me feel a little achy without mixing it up. I went hardcore a few months ago and did a 30 day challenge of yoga, 30 days straight. The only way I survived was exploring the full range of styles.

Other folks might tell you that power yoga is not yoga. My favorite Anusara teacher tells me "Order the meal you want"; I know what it's like when you find your thing with yoga, it can be very addicting and personally rewarding. Channel that energy as you explore the wide variety of styles and methods available to you.
posted by dobie at 3:23 PM on May 27