recovery after arthroscopic surgery, yin and yang

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gregor
Posts: 21
Joined: Fri Aug 07, 2009 5:09 am
Location: germany

recovery after arthroscopic surgery, yin and yang

Post by gregor »

Dear Bernie,

I finally decided to undergo arthroscopic surgery to even out my damaged menisci on both sides. I considered that to be the best, since it was about deeply torn cartilage, since i would like to avoid that it will tear more, followed by eventually arthritis, since i could do the procedure with a very experienced orthopedist and i knew it would heal fast, because I'm young.
I have done one side and it is about five weeks ago, it feels really good, but the cartilage is still very sensitive when to stressed, with to much lounging.

I developed some careful yoga praxis around the exercises of the physiotherapist and also started with yin asanas that do not involve any bend knees. My yang practice involves a lot of whole body and leg strengthening. But of course i overdid it a bit with strengthening and now i'm even more careful. In a way this is the hardest accepting and patience practice i had so far.

My question to you:
How long did it take you to completely recover (so that you could do asanas similar to seiza sitting, supta virasana and bow pulling...)?
What did you do with yoga to help the healing, the getting back to old range of motion and the strengthening?

With kind regards,
Gregor
Bernie
Posts: 1293
Joined: Sat Sep 23, 2006 2:25 am
Location: Vancouver

Recovering from knee arthroscopic surgery

Post by Bernie »

Hi Gregor

I went through 2 arthroscopic surgeries - one for each knee and both before I had discovered yin yoga. For my first surgery, while my surgeon thought I would get my full range of motion back within 3 months, I found it took me about 6 months to get back to my earlier range of motion.

The second surgery did take less time to recover from: I discovered, quite by accident, that sitting in virasana helped me recover more quickly. About 2 months after my second surgery, I took a Thai Yoga Therapy course (advanced training) which requires a lot of work while on the floor. I was concerned going into the session that I would not be able to do the massages because of the swelling in my knee. However, once I started the massage, I didn't notice my knee at all. I have often wondered if that was because I was sitting on my heels for most of the time, or because I was "channeling" healing energies through me into my partner being massaged.

In either case, the recovery time from my second surgery was more like 4 months. I did not do any particular yoga practice to help my recovery, I just modified what I was doing before to make sure I wasn't hurting my knee. What I have done ever since my surgeries is to really work on hip openers. My injuries were caused by tight hips, which put a lot of stress into my knees. Yin Yoga hip openers have really helped my knees: I do a lot of Shoelace and Swan poses and well as Winged Dragons.

Today, my hips are as open as they are going to get, but I still do these poses to keep the hips open. I also do a lot of yang standing poses to keep the muscles around the knees strong. My knees still talk to me occasionally, but nothing like before the surgeries. I am glad I did the surgeries, but I wish I had known about the importance of opening the hips to save the knees before I damaged my knees.

Good luck with the recovery.
Cheers
Bernie
gregor
Posts: 21
Joined: Fri Aug 07, 2009 5:09 am
Location: germany

Post by gregor »

Thank you so much Bernie!
Your reply is really helpfull!
I also wish i would have known before...
In my case stupid inpatience caused the damage-i didn't wait the hip to open itself as usual, but forced the tibia up, during the down movement of the femur.
But finally i learnt and still learn a lot through that experience, which i'm glad for.
I will post if i have some usefull information about that issue.

All the best for you!
Gregor
Bernie
Posts: 1293
Joined: Sat Sep 23, 2006 2:25 am
Location: Vancouver

screws in the knees

Post by Bernie »

Adil - You may want to read this post on the same topic.
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