Most knee complaints in yoga come from four things: kneeling with the full body weight on the kneecap, deep flexion under load, twisting through the knee when the hip will not rotate, and hyperextending a straight leg in standing shapes. Each has a straightforward alternative, and none of them requires giving up the practice.
What follows is about working around a knee within a practice. It is not medical advice, and the boundary matters: see the end.
The four culprits and what to do instead
Kneeling with weight on the kneecap. Common in half-kneeling work, low lunges and anything on hands and knees. The fix is padding: fold the mat double, put a cushion or folded blanket under the knee, or use a chair-supported version instead. This solves the majority of yoga knee complaints on its own.
Deep flexion under load. Deep squats, sitting back onto the heels, any shape that folds the knee fully while carrying weight. The alternative is to reduce the depth and add support. A block or rolled towel behind the knee when sitting back, or simply stopping at the depth where it is comfortable. Depth is not the point of any of these shapes.
Twisting through the knee. The classic version is a cross-legged or bound seated shape where the hip does not rotate enough, so the rotation happens at the knee instead, which the knee is not built for. This is the one that causes actual injuries rather than discomfort. The fix is to sit up on a cushion, which frees the hip, or to take a version with less rotation. Never force a seated shape by pulling on the foot.
Hyperextension in standing shapes. Locking a straight leg backwards, common in standing poses and in people who are naturally very mobile. The fix is a micro-bend, a few degrees of softness in the knee, maintained deliberately.
What usually helps
Strength around the knee, particularly quadriceps and glutes. Underdone in most general yoga and often the thing that actually changes a grumbling knee.
Hip mobility, especially rotation. A hip that rotates properly takes the demand off the knee in every seated shape.
Ankle mobility. Restricted dorsiflexion changes how load travels through the knee in squatting and lunging.
Gradual loading rather than avoidance. Persistent knee complaints that are not a specific injury usually respond better to progressive, tolerable loading than to protection, but that is a conversation for a physiotherapist rather than a general rule to apply to yourself.
Where the boundary is
This article is about modifying a practice. It is not about diagnosing a knee, and a yoga teacher should not be doing that either.
See a clinician rather than modifying a class if the knee locks, gives way or catches; if it is visibly swollen; if the pain came from a specific incident; if it is getting worse; or if you cannot put weight on it. Those are not positioning problems.
If you have had knee surgery or a replacement, the range limits come from your surgeon or physiotherapist and a teacher should be working inside them. Bring the actual guidance to the first session rather than a summary of it.
Why a session helps here more than usual
Because almost all of the above is about how a shape is done rather than which shape it is, and how you are doing it is exactly what you cannot see. A teacher watching from the side spots a knee tracking inward, a pelvis that has not rotated so the knee is taking it, or a locked-out standing leg within seconds, and each of those is a small correction that changes whether the practice bothers your knee at all.
Sessions are thirty or sixty minutes, live, and it is worth mentioning the knee when you book rather than in the session, so the whole thing is built with it in mind.
Questions people ask
Can I do yoga with knee pain?
Usually yes, with modifications. Padding under the knee when kneeling, reducing depth in loaded flexion, sitting up on a cushion so the hip rotates rather than the knee, and keeping a micro-bend instead of locking a straight leg address most of it. A knee that locks, gives way, swells or came from a specific injury needs a clinician first.
Which yoga poses are bad for knees?
None are inherently bad; several are commonly done in ways that bother knees. The frequent culprits are kneeling with weight directly on the kneecap, deep loaded flexion, seated shapes that twist through the knee because the hip will not rotate, and hyperextending a straight standing leg.
Should I avoid kneeling altogether?
Rarely necessary. Folding the mat double or putting a cushion under the knee resolves most kneeling discomfort. If padding does not help, a chair-supported alternative exists for essentially every kneeling shape.
Is yoga good for arthritic knees?
Gentle movement and strengthening are generally encouraged for knee osteoarthritis, and yoga can provide both. It is not a treatment for arthritis, and the specifics should be agreed with the clinician managing it rather than taken from an article.
A senior yoga teacher at IndieVeda, teaching one-to-one sessions live from India.