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Hypermobile (double-jointed) knees, increasing flexibility and soreness. Help!
Hi everyone, I know there’s always threads floating around about flex so I’m sorry to add to that for anyone who’s sick of them!
I’m having an issue that I know a lot of people have and that’s soreness from flex work. I think I went a bit overboard last week stretching three days in a row and I only have myself to blame for that! However, I have problems with front splits even on good days.
I do tend to get sore even after just one session of stretching and it happens especially behind my knees and in the lower part of my hamstring where the tendons attach. I think I’m getting more sore than is normal and I suspect it has something to do with my hypermobility in my knees and hips. For those who don’t know what that means most people call it being double-jointed and basically my joints bend further than they should. My knees bent a little bit back in the opposite direction and I can pop my hips out slightly at will. This means that my version of straight legs is more straight than everyone elses and certain hip stretches will cause my pain if I’m not super aware of my alignment. It also means it can be difficult to work on my hip flex/alignment in front splits as rather than stretch my hips would prefer to pop (path of least resistance, etc).
It’s most noticeable when we go down as far into our front splits as we can for our level. Because I can’t sit flat this puts a lot of pressure on my knees and my hips want to go wonky. I’ve actually decided as of this week that unless I can find a way around it I’m just not going to practice going into splits until I’m actually flexi enough to get flat enough to not hurt my knees. I know this sound ridiculous! I believe there are other stretches I can to work on hip alignment, flex and strength as well as leg flex to get me much closer to flat if not completely flat before trying it again.
So, is there anyone else who has hypermobile knees? How did you overcome such problems?
Other than that, does anybody have any super awesome stretching techniques or equipment to help me get into a flat split without putting any pressure on my annoying flexi knee joints?
Sorry this post got so long!
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8 Replies
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I am hypermobile (although getting stiffer as I age!) knees not too bad usually but if they are playing up I lie on my back for all splits stretches. Lie on back draw one knee to chest stretching your other leg on floor straight. Pull quad towards shoulder, slowly extend leg. Point toes, flex feet, bent leg, straight leg, leg straight up, shin by nose, shin by ear, play around….
God I need to stretch now. Missed yoga for 3 weeks and really notice it.
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Awesome! That might be a thing to do when everyone else is doing their splits. I have a strap somewhere that I can use to pull down on my foot better and even that doesn’t put the same pressure on my knees and hips as actually lowering into it. Thanks for the advice! 🙂
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PNF stretching has helped me a lot with my splits, heres a site explaining it specifically for front splits http://www.dailybandha.com/2012/05/hanumanasanafront-splits.html
i have hypermobility issues as well and the best advice is to not push it (which you seem to already be aware of 🙂
TropicalPole had some words of wisdom from her yoga teacher about how much to push it. (Hope you dont mind me stealing your quote!)-
“Work within the normal range of motion for a normal/beginner person, never at your max extension, especially when inverting or doing ‘bound’ moves ( in pole this would be flexy moves or TG etc where you’re out of natural body alignment)
Rather than push out and into a move, try to find the correct position and then close in on the move by firmly supporting yourself in it with awareness of all your body parts working harmoniously and powerfully together.
Try to think about opening the body and enfolding into a move – creating space and gentle strength in the muscles instead of stretching, hanging, forcing or flopping.
Use breath work to control and stay steady and strong. If in doubt go slow, slow, slower leaving yourself room to deepen the move after a few breaths. Never push straight into full extension: work at 60% of where you could go and with perfect form, breathe into 75%, hold it with 100% attention.”
Other than that, the PNF is good because it activates the muscles you are trying to stretch before you stretch them, so you are more likely to also stretch the muscle fibers and not just the connective tissue/tendons/etc (which is already whats kinda loosey goosey)
You are on point with making sure you are in excellent alignment when stretching, so try not to let competitive mode come in and just really stay focused on form and take things slow and listen to your body.
I will say knee caps are still uncomfortable in squared off front splits. They have to be physically moved with my hands to be on the ground and not pushed off to the side of the knee. Its the motion of actually sliding into it that pushes the knee caps funky. But no lasting joint pain/soreness or anything, just a little knee cap wiggling 🙂
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Same blog, with an article specifically relating to hypermobility http://www.dailybandha.com/2013/11/preventing-yoga-injuries-vs-preventing_19.html
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Thanks for the links 🙂
I had a read but I think they mostly went over my head because I’m not that good with the technical side of stretching and all the medical terms.
Do you know of any PNF resources that are a little less technical? If not I’ll have a proper Google of it after I finish work. -
Basically to do PNF stretches you hold the stretch at a beginning intensity that is strong enough to feel but not pushing yourself fully into the stretch then you contract those muscles for 10 seconds at about 20% strength, after that just relax and you will naturally move deeper into the stretch. And repeat!
As far as the contractions go, imagine that you are contracting in the OPPOSITE way of how you are stretching. So for the splits, you’d contract as if you were bringing your legs closer together, and then when you relax it takes you down deeper into your splits.
PNF stretches shouldn’t be done everyday, so start off incorporating this into your routine twice a week to start.
This method is called contract-relax, so that’s all you’re doing really. No need to force the stretch, just contracting and relaxing. And keep your alignment in mind! The chair ideas on that site are good, but I prefer to hold onto the pole as I slide down, basically hugging it. It holds me upright and feels like I have more control over intensity. You can safely hold yourself up with one arm and use another arm to physically adjust wonky limbs if necessary. Like…say….wiggle a knee cap back into place 🙂
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Thanks heaps for the explanation, that makes a lot more sense. I’m due to stretch again in Thursday so I’ll give it a go then and see how I go. 🙂
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I have similar flexibility to you, although I don’t end up with pain/hyperextended knees – my hips/quads are just really loose and my feet rotate backwards. This may be a silly question, but have you tried using yoga blocks to hold yourself up while doing your front splits? That should help take some pressure off your knee. You can also try overlunges, which I did until my splits got better. Also, be sure to engage your quad in order to protect your hamstring. Finally, if you do splits on your back, make sure your knee on the floor stays facing up to the ceiling – mine always wants to flop to the side.
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