Is there an alternative to downward dog pose?

[mynameiswah]

It really hurts my knees! I have osteoarthritis and I can't do things like straighten/stretch my legs because the backs of my knees hurt.

I've only started doing yoga in my bedroom, in classes I find the teacher often forgets that I can't do a pose (eg downward dog) and I'm too shy to speak up.

What adjustments to poses can you recommend for knee arthritis?

[Settlersofcatan]

I hate it too - makes me dizzy - I do child's pose instead

[Spam88]

Not sure about an alternative, but the main thing in downward dog is to have a straight back, so you can bend your knees if it's uncomfortable to have them straight.

[ohwheniknow]

I thought there was a "half" version of it where you keep your knees bent?

[mynameiswah]

Ooh thanks, I will look up the knees bent dog, I'm not proficient enough yet with it as it is, I find it such a struggle to hold myself up without falling sideways!

[ListeningQuietly]

Straightening legs is Down dog is irrelevant

keep your heels off the floor
keep your knees bent
focus on lengthening and straitening your spine

you'll gain more core strength

once your heels are down and your legs are straight it becomes a skeletal posture not a muscular posture

muscles can be toned
bones are pretty much as they are

[EuphorbiaHemlockthe1st]

We are largely oldies in my group and not many have straight legs. You put belly to thighs (or that is how it is described in a video I have) so not necessarily straight legs.
I get sore wrists, I weigh a LOT more than my petite yoga teacher - I'm not sure that is always taken into account.

[CountFosco]

You can do a downward dog with your hands against a wall (so standing and bent over in an upside down L shape). Or, as PP said just keep your knees bent either slightly (like when you're 'walking the dog'), or to go into a puppy pose.

[Lipperfromchipper]

in classes I find the teacher often forgets that I can't do a pose (eg downward dog) and I'm too shy to speak up.

Any good yoga teacher will ask you for a medical history and work with you and show you adaptions OP!! You don’t HAVE to do any pose you don’t want to either! You can skip or go into a different pose (like a pp said child’s pose is good) but the key is needing to say it to the teacher (perhaps beforehand).

[doadeer]

Keep bent knees definitely as others have said the part of your body to work on is your back. I have really tight achillies so even when I practiced daily for many years I couldn't get heels down. It's such a tough pose at first. I remember really struggling with it. Stick with it and focus on lovely straight spine. And you can always take a child's pose if you need a rest

[FinallyHere]

Absolutely agree with PP's about focus on keeping spine straight and accepting that legs may need to be soft and not straight.

A big thing for me was to get my hips in the right position (I know, yet another thing ) I only know about this because a visiting yoga teacher did an adjustment to my hips while I was in down dog to bring my hips 'back' so that more of my body weight was over my legs than my hands.

You know what it's like when you literally cannot see something ...

At first I thought down dog was a v shape with my weight roughly even across hands and feet while it's actually an asymmetric position with my hips and legs carrying more of my (not inconsiderable) weight.

Finding a teacher who really does understand bodies and can make adjustments was key for me. Yoga is remains a challenge for me but I do feel the stretch now rather than just suffer discomfort

[IntermittentParps]

You can definitely keep your knees bent. Or do it with hands against a wall, as someone has just suggested.

Maybe work on speaking up in class, too? And/or on doing your own thing when you need to. Yoga is about awareness of your own body, after all.