Questions and Answers 1

12/20/2008 11:29 AM

from Sonja Radovic:
Here is a yoga-related question:
Just about every time after I do a heart-opening pose (my favorites are fish and wheel), I feel the need to stretch / adjust / align my legs. And when I do, my knees crack (no pain, just a sound). I can't seem to figure out the physical connection; is there maybe an emotional one that I am not aware of? It's nothing that bothers me; I just notice and yes, I would like to know why that happens.

Love,
Sonja

My Answer:

The Question:

It's probably your sartorius muscle popping over top of the inside knee. It's the bottom inside that you feel pop, isn't it? If so, my explanation below should help you grasp that.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sartorius_muscle
When you do those postures, you are connecting up the transversus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transversus
with the psoas
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psoas_major_muscle
and the muscles of the legs, like the sartorius.

Most people in the West as a result of sitting chairs and shortening constantly the outside muscles of the hips and legs (specifically, the iliotibial band, vastus lateralus- and their opposites, the inside hamstrings, also get tight as a result, too) end up with some tightness in the sartorius. Since the sartorius connects with the tightness of both the tight muscles of the hips and legs to the inner big hamstrings, this activation is less about the heart-opening postures than it is about your lack of range of motion (ROM) in the abdomen/hips/legs.

The root cause of all this is a lack of awareness (specifically sympathetic awareness) in the abdomen to balance out all this over sympathetic nerve activation in the back. I teach a whole course on how to overcome this neuromuscular patterning and allow people to understand it.

When you do these postures, you are extending the ROM of the bottom part of the chain (and looking at the sartorius, you can see why this is the case) and tightening the abdomen also in an unfamiliar ROM. If you did the cobra properly you would likely have the same issue, or the bow pose. Most yoga schools don't teach these properly, so you may not have experienced this issue there too.

I hope this is clear. It's easy for me to visualize, but sometimes doesn't come across to people not so familiar with the anatomy. I can think of some exercises to help with this, but it would take too long to explain on email.

If your knee popping happens in some other place than on the bottom inside of the knee, it would be something else entirely, but this is the most likely thing.

Thanks,
DurgaDas

Feel free to submit your question to me via our contact page, and I will answer it.

Tags: Chakrasana, wheel pose, fish, matsyasana

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