How to Relieve Knee Pain with Yoga Blocks

Yoga Blocks Alleviate Knee Discomfort

Having spent most of my yoga teaching life in Utah, the place that touts the “greatest snow on Earth,” I’ve hosted a lot of dedicated skiers in my classes with various knee issues. Movement restrictions tend to fall into two camps: those whose knees don’t flex very far and those whose knees feel painful when the knees are flexed and the thighbones are externally rotated in seated poses, as in Sukhasana (Cross-Legged Pose). I’ve observed that if someone experiences one type of knee pain, they usually don’t have a problem with the other.

In the first case, sitting on Yoga Blocks, Yoga Blankets and Yoga Bolsters to elevate the pelvis in seated poses where the knees are in simple flexion, usually does the trick, because their knees can bend less. I’m going to focus on the second case here.

As with the first case, alleviating knee pain from flexion and external rotation is pretty simple. Most of my students respond to well simply to placing blocks under their knees, as in the photo. Elevating the knees lessens the pull of the Sartorius muscles on the inner thighs and knees, and can relieve what I believe to be stress on the anterior cruciate ligaments that can cause knee pain in some seated poses.

If you find that blocks help relieve knee discomfort in Sukhasana (pictured above), here’s a list of other poses that could benefit from the support of a block or blocks under your knees:

Baddha Konasana (Bound Angle Pose)

Supta Baddha Konasana (Supine Bound Angle Pose)

Janu Sirsasana (Head-of-the-Knee Pose)

Ardha Padmasana (Half Lotus)

Can you think of any? Please let us know how you’ve used blocks to support cranky knees.

If you’d like to see more uses for Yoga Blocks, as well as how to use Hugger Mugger’s other premium props, please visit the Yoga Props Guide.