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In yoga class, we sometimes listen to the teacher say: “bend the knee slightly”, or “bend the knee a little if possible”; Maybe some students don’t particularly understand why or when to do this
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Because knee extension is the standard configuration of standing upright
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Where does the model in the pose picture bend and bend his knee when he has a straight leg? Why does the teacher always ask us to bend our knee slightly when he should straighten his leg? The story starts with fascia..
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Usually, when sitting, bending forward or standing in three-dimensional position, the legs should be as straight as possible
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But when many students try to straighten their legs, they may need to keep their knees slightly bent, Because it can help relieve the pressure around the knee and remove the excessive stretching force on the hamstring at the back of the thigh
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Why does “slight bending and flexion” have such a great influence on the tensile strength and comfort of the posture? We should first take a look at the muscle chain of the knee and the back of the leg; The fascia and the muscle tissue at the back of thigh and leg where we feel stretching can be a muscle tendon chain running through; It can also be divided into a hamstring attached to a chain dominated by tibia and fibula, and another chain dominated by gastrocnemius attached to femur; When the knee is fully straight; When the knee is bent, the anatomical train is divided into two sections
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The two muscle chains are independent of each other and are pulled by different force lines (front)
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According to the description in the anatomy train, when the knee joint enters the extended state, the femoral condyle returns to these muscle tendon chains (above B)
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At this time, the whole complex structure is tightened, and the constituent elements of each part are activated each other
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The whole structure is like two hands tightly grasping the wrist (above C)
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But when the knee is slightly bent, the tension of the back side of the leg is removed, and the muscle chain below is out of joint with the muscle chain above (a above)
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In this way, the forward bending becomes much easier, because the pressure on the back side of the leg is much less
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To keep the knee fully straight, activate the tendon chain at the back of the leg as a whole anatomical train, so that the hamstring at the back of the thigh has more tension, and the tension will also be transmitted to the waist and spine
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That’s why a slight knee flexion is always a good choice when the hamstring tension is too much to bear
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But if the goal of our practice is to deepen the hamstring pull, or to open more of the stiff soft tissue at the back of the knee, then try to straighten the knee, It’s also very important to keep the quadriceps in the front of the thigh active while the knee is fully extended – it’s like lifting the patella (knee cap) up
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If other people help you observe, you will see that the front of the thigh is hard, Others should stick their fingers at the front of your thigh
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It should be hard, not as soft as tofu
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So, it’s right to bend your knees slightly, it’s right to straighten your knees completely – it depends on what body you are, what you want to achieve in practice, and how to do it for your particular body
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In a classroom with a lot of beginners, teachers often say that the purpose of bending knees is to protect students from injury, and at the same time, it can effectively stretch the back of the body
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Especially for beginners, when standing and bending forward, even if the leg can be stretched, the center of gravity may be backward – that is, the hip joint is behind the knee joint and ankle joint; At this time, the practitioner may think that the position is OK, but in fact, this position becomes more out of order, and it is safer for the body than slightly bending the knee
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Feel the above theory in the down dog
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Down dog is the best posture that we can use to experience the theoretical knowledge in our own body; Try it on your own: enter the lower dog, keep the knees as straight as possible, and focus on the relationship between the pelvis forward and the upper part of the body and the legs
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Bend the knee below, make the knee close to the ground, lift the heel up, and try to raise the hip to the sky
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Then slowly straighten the leg, and keep the hip in the up position in the process, as if the height does not change, but move the fart toward the back of the mat until you reach the limit of your body in the pose
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See if you’ll find that your upper body goes deeper into the pose, that is, your chest is closer to your legs
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That’s the knee flexion at the beginning that allows the crotch to flex more forward, and the crotch flexion is actually a key point for a good lower dog
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Then you can further understand this principle in sitting and bending forward paschimottonasana or standing and bending forward padangustasana
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The next time you enter the forward bending, try to bend and straighten the knee in different ways, with the legs at the same time and then alternately
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This is the so-called awareness; Practice, try, and notice the subtle differences in these movements, not just the knee and the back of the thigh, but also how the pull is transferred to the whole body
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Finally, to sum up: slightly bending the knee, especially when you just enter the pose, can help the back of the pose deepen better
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Of course, the first feeling of bending the knee is the relaxation of the hamstring tension at the back of the leg
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So for beginners, if you feel that the back of the leg is always limiting the completion and depth of the pose, bend the knee（ The article ends with the statement: the name of the official account is “astonga Yoga road”
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， Lu Lu editor is the only author and editor in chief; If you read the name of the official account, it looks similar, but the name is not the same as the “astonga Yoga road”
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The official account is official account instead of the “XXXX editor”
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The article and the official account are not related to the author
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