Move it. Don't lose it: Treatment for osteoarthritis in knees.

"The best thing to do is keep moving"

This quote comes from a recent article in the Sydney Morning Herald that caught our eye. 

The article coincides with the release of the 2024 Osteoarthritis of the Knee Clinical Care Standard by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care.

Okay. Yes. That is a lot of boring words. 🥱 But if you own one or more knees in less than perfect working order, they make riveting reading.

Exercise. Not surgery.

The new standards of care call for a "focus on non-surgical interventions such as exercise and weight management".

What do you know? That's what we focus on too. 🤩

Now just to be clear, the doctors quoted in the article didn't specifically recommend Bikram Yoga.

But when a doctor gives this advice to a knee patient - "it is safe to be active, even if it's a bit sore at the start", we reckon that sounds a lot like "You should 100% do Bikram Yoga".

Are we right?

Good in theory. What about the real world?

Well, here's Troy.

He has knees. Look, you can see them in the photo.

7 years ago, Troy had a bucket handle meniscus tear in his left knee. The doc cleaned up the meniscus damage and gave Troy the bad news.

Happily, long-time Bikram yogi Troy had other ideas, and he came back to class. At first the knee was a bit painful, but with regular practice the pain went away and one year later Troy was all the way back in Fixed Firm pose.

Sounds a bit like "it's safe to be active, even if it's a bit sore at the start."

A meeting of minds

We love it when medical opinion coincides with our experience as Bikram yogis.

It just helps to reinforce our (tiny bit biased) belief that this yoga is the number one tool for maintaining mobility and health for as long as possible.

We'll keep our eyes peeled for the next knee care standards update, because we fully expect it to say:

"it is better to suffer 90 minutes than 90 years." 😂