Put Your Foot On Your Knee in Tree Pose!

Trish Corley Author

It is okay to put your foot on your knee in tree pose!

Foot Placement In Tree Pose: Is Your Knee Safe?

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Ever since I started practicing yoga, teachers have been saying to avoid putting your foot on your knee in tree pose. It never made sense to me. I've finally started to see more yoga teachers question this cue, but it is also still being said!

Have you given much thought to your foot placement in tree pose? Have you heard a yoga teacher tell you to avoid placing your foot on your knee during tree pose? Are you saying this to your students?

As a new yoga student, I listened to my teachers and I never did experience any knee pain or injury during tree pose. As my scientific and inquisitive mind became more aware of what was happening in yoga class, I started questioning the common cues I heard. I wondered where they came from and how they get passed down through generations of teachers and students. As I continue to mentor more and more yoga teachers, I want more and more for yoga teachers to question and understand the cues they are using!! That is the only way we can have great yoga teachers who make the best impact on improving the health of modern society!

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Since my scientific mind learns best with hands on exploration and physical movement, I played around with tree pose.

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I played with placing the sole of my foot directly on my knee. And it felt good. It actually felt stable. One more step in my inquisitive process: I wanted to understand the biomechanics. My yoga anatomy nerd alarm rang! So here is my analysis.

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Let's first explore the biomechanics and safety of your knee in tree pose.

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Although you may have been told so, the KNEE IS NOT A TRUE HINGE JOINT. Consider the hinge on a door. It allows the door to open and close. That is, the door only moves back and forth in one plane of movement. It may seem that your knee only bends and straightens. However, your knee (specifically the tibiofemoral joint) also has the ability to rotate slightly. If not for the stabilizing structures of the knee, it could also easily move side-to-side as a result of it being more than a true hinge.

By definition, the knee is made up of two condyloid joints. The lower part of the femur (thigh bone) has two large rounded convex ends. They look almost like the side of an egg. The top part of the tibia (shin bone) has two shallow concave surfaces. They look like two spoons. The shallow concave surfaces of the tibia support the convex ends of the femur. It is similar to two eggs resting on two spoons. Just as you would not want an egg to fall off the spoon, it is important that the ends of the femur stay inside the shallow supports of the tibia. Fortunately we have the menisci that create a deeper surface for the ends of the femur to rest in. However, we rely on our ligaments as well as the strength of muscles to really keep the knee stable. Without them, the knee would actually be as unstable as eggs on spoons.

The structures around the knee (the ligaments and muscles) do allow for significant bending and straightening of the knee AND a limited amount of rotation and very minimal side-to-side movement. We rely on the strength of these structures to provide enough stability in the knee to hold us upright. In tree pose, you are standing on one leg and therefore stability in the knee is important. 

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So will placing your opposite foot on your knee compromise that stability or cause injury?

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Let's explore. Does placing your foot on your knee during tree increase, decrease, or not affect the stability of the knee? 

Two of the major supporting ligaments of the knee run along the inside and outside of the knee. Look at the collateral ligaments as shown in the image of the Human Knee above.

      Lateral collateral ligament: connects the femur (thigh bone) to the fibula (which is on the outside of the knee).

      Medial collateral ligament: connects the femur and the tibia on the inside of the knee.

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  The primary role of the collateral ligaments is to prevent the knee from bending from side to side. 

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Placement of the sole of your foot on the outside of your knee may actually play a similar role as the medial collateral ligament and therefore provide more stability to the inside of your knee. See the image with red curved line by the sole of the foot. This red curved line represents the medial collateral ligament. It is also where the sole of the foot is in this image of the skeleton!

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If you place your foot above your knee on your thigh bone (femur), your are actually pressing the thigh bone away from the shin bone (tibia). If you place your foot below your knee on your shin bone (tibia), you are actually pressing the shin bone (tibia) away from the thigh bone (femur). See the images of me in tree pose with red lines representing sliding forces of thigh and shin bones. In the left photo I have my foot above my knee. In the center photo I have my foot below my knee. In both of these instances, I am putting more strain on nt lateral collateral ligament....a little more on that below.
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In the photo on the right, I have my foot on my knee. In this instance, I m pressing into both bones and therefore there is no force of one bone sliding on the other.
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Here is another way to look at it. Stack two yoga blocks on top of each other at their greatest height. Imagine this is your knee with the top block being your thigh bone (femur) and the bottom block being your shin bone (tibia).

1. Push onto the side of top block. It likely moved off the bottom block.
2. Now restack the blocks and push onto the side of the bottom block. It likely moved, taking the top block down with it.
3. Now restack the blocks and press equally into both blocks (at the crease where the two blocks meet). They likely remain stable!!

So it is possible that placing your foot onto your knee in tree may create support!

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What about the strain on the lateral collateral ligament if you put your foot above or below your knee?

Rest assured, the amount of force you have the ability to create in tree pose is quite minimal compared to what your body is capable of handling. Soccer players are at a relative higher risk for injury to the ligaments of the knee. This is because of the high velocity rotational forces that occur when running and stopping and often occur upon impact from another player who is also moving at a high velocity. Yet, most play injury free despite these high forces.

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Where you place your foot in tree pose is only one part of the picture. How you place your foot and how you go about your practice as a whole is likely more important in keeping your knee safe.

As with any yoga posture, the key to creating stability comes from well-aligned joints and muscle action. If you just hang your heel on your knee, this might not feel great. Instead, press the four corners of your lifted foot into your knee and press your standing leg back into your foot. Since we rely on the strength of the tissues surrounding the knee for stability, you will gain more stability if you activate the muscles around the knee!

Also, press the four corners of your standing foot down into the ground. A strong tree has deep roots and a stable trunk that allows it to withstand the wind forces of even the strongest storms.

I suggest you play around with the placement of your foot in tree pose and determine what feels good in your own body. If putting your foot on your knee hurts, it could be due to what muscles you are or are not activating, not just your foot placement. And if you can't find a pain-free way to do tree without your foot on your knee, then put your foot wherever you want!!

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If you are a yoga teacher and want to teach from a clear understanding of anatomy, the Yoga Anatomy School’s Foundations course is for you!

Module 4 of Foundations covers details of knee anatomy, the knee's relationship to the foot and hip, and optimal postural alignment of the legs!

Yoga Anatomy School offers online and in person courses to make learning anatomy easy and practical!

All 14 modules of the Foundations Course are available inside the Yoga Anatomy School Membership!

Categories: : Knee, Posture Alignment, Yoga Anatomy