back pain can lead to knee pain

Also, had a helpful consult with my genius yoga instructor yesterday. I have a minor recurring issue with low back pain on my right side. It has been bugging me this month largely due to the overall hormonal upheaval in my body due to switching up my meds. Also, it has been expanding into also being a nagging runner’s knee on my right side as well. Anyway, it seemed as good a time as any to get advice on how to prevent this pain in the future. I sort of burst into tears while explaining my health issues to the instructor (yay hormones!), fortunately we were the only ones in the room and so humiliation was minimized. She gave me about 5 minutes worth of stretching and strengthening to do daily. I’ve never bothered to do a daily yoga routine, but I think this is probably a smart idea. Here are the moves:

Lie flat on back with heels against the wall. Pressing heels into wall, wrap strap around foot and

(1) lift leg to stretch hamstrings (for about five breaths on right side, and three on left side).

(2) Then, move leg to side to get hip opening.

(3) Release strap. Bend knee and rotate leg in hip socket to open hip. 

Flip over.

(4) Do the swimmer pose where you lift left leg and right arm and then vice versa. (again, 5 breaths on right, 3 on left)

Stand

(5) Do swimmer thing as a balance pose from a standing position