Hamstring pain

[Guest guest]

Greetings!<br><br>I have been practicing for the

last 6-7 months and have found that, in the last 2-3

months, I am experiencing pain in my hamstring in the

lower thigh area. At first it was only in the right

leg, but now it has jumped over to the left and I no

longer have any difficulty with the right. As a result,

forward bends on the left side are incremental at best

while the same bends on the right are pretty deep. Does

anyone have any ideas on what I might do to avoid this

and/or whether this is a natural part of my progression

toward longer/looser hamstrings?<br><br>I began

practicing yoga when I grew tired of long distance running.

I don't know if this has any bearing on what is

going on.<br><br>All replies/advice appreciated!

[Guest guest]

I'd also be interested in any advice about pain

in the Practice. I have pain all the time in my

right leg, from the inner groin to the outside of my

knee. After reading BB Birch's Power Yoga book, I

thought it might be an old injury. I did hurt my knee as

a teenager and pulled a groin water skiing. But, I

am concerned that I may be further damaging it with

the practice. I pay very close attention to my

alignment as a result but am still worried. Does anyone

have any sage advice for working out old injuries? I'd

appreciate it.<br><br>Yeshe

[Guest guest]

My advice is to forge ahead with your practice.

Hopefully under the instruction from a competent teacher.

Did you seek medical attention following your skiing

incident or did you let yourself heal by

itself?<br>Chances are, by compensating for the injury, you through

yourself out of alignment and now through your practice

are now realigning which will awaken your old

injuries and may even create new ones. Believe me, I know

as do most astangis. <br>Sit in virasana in your

spare time for at least a half an hour every day until

the pain goes away.<br>It helped me. Don't push

yourself to hard on that side either. But you should talk

to someone you trust like your teacher who knows

your body.

[Guest guest]

Thanks for the advice, irinji. I had to see a

physiotherapist for whiplash from a car accident (I sound a mess,

huh?) and told him about my muscles. I guess the brunt

of it was for me not to worry unless the pain was

nerve pain. He described nerve pain as pain that runs

all the way down the leg and into the foot. It just

feels like my hip gets thrown out of joint from the

stretching. It pops all the time and my groin/hamstrings feel

like twisted rubberbands. There is no ashtanga teacher

where I live so I've been practicing alone and/or

trying to get a group organized. I want to head to

Mysore this summer but am afraid I might further injury

myself there. I was there a year and a half ago and

studied with BNS Iyengar but want to return to study with

Jois. I hope I'll be in shape for it. I love INdia and

can't wait to go. <br><br>Thanks again, I'll just keep

practicing.<br>Yeshe

[Guest guest]

Pain. We all have our thresholds, real or

otherwise. Our yoga can heal a person if one is willing to

push those thresholds. I've experienced several trauma

injuries in my life, yoga was able to "heal" the old ones

and repair the more recent ones experienced while

practicing. I tore a rotator cuff in a bike crash and

fractured my scapula. The MD's said it was surgery or never

throw a baseball again (and limit surfing, swimming and

oh yeah, yoga) Sri KP landed in Calif. about three

weeks after my accident. We lined up for advanced

practice. After our incantation, the guru began his count,

ekam, dwe, trini, etc. On my injured side, I could not

raise my arm except to crawl my hand up my ribs and

finally extend up after clearing my head. Guruji was at

my side immediatly with a big "why?" and a scolding

"you've lost your practice!" An attempt to explain my

state was brushed aside and I limped through the

series. Afterwards, Guruji laid out a recovery plan,

which was followed to the letter. Two months later I

was able to perform the "A" series without pain. A

later visit to my MD had him scratching his head as to

what had happended to my injuries. He found no scar

tissue in the rotator cuff area and the scapula had

healed as well. The purpose of relaying this story is

that yes, yoga can heal many things, how quickly you

address the problem has some bearing on how quickly

results can be attained. As for the old injuries, I

always visualized this practice as a body shop, heat it

up and bang out the imperfections. (not as romantic

as the goldsmithing analogy most use but how many of

you have seen a car straightened?) Big breathing, big

bandhas and proper alignment will take you very far

towards being healed. If your current teacher can't see

the line (alignment) and path needed to straighten

your body, invest in a trip to Mysore, it's much

cheaper than a hospital visit.<br><br>Om Shanti!

[Guest guest]

Thanks takeitup for sharing your experiences.

Most yoga teachers I know are very flexible from the

start so I don't get much advice from them about pain

and how to progress in the practice. I'll continue to

work intellegently with my leg and then it's off to

Mysore.<br><br>Yeshe