Knee strengthening exercises based on Iyengar yoga in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia)

Aim: the paper aims to investigate the efficiency of Iyengar yoga for knee strengthening. Materials and methods. 20 people with knee joint diseases aged 45-70 were involved in the study (Yakutsk, Republic of Sakha (Yakutia)). The experiment was carried out for a year with intermediate control of knee pain. Iyengar yoga technique was proposed as the basis of a training program with respect to weather conditions of the Far North. Results. According to the experiment results, some significant differences were found. Some participants experienced knee pain when performing squats and walking up and down the stairs or complained of acute and nocturnal pain when practicing certain Iyengar yoga poses. At the end of the experiment, significant positive effect was observed in terms of knee improvement. Conclusion. The study showed that Iyengar yoga was quite effective in knee improvement for people of different ages living in the extremely cold conditions of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). Adapted yoga classes with long warm-up resulted in a significant improvement of the knee joint in all participants.