Question from a student: How to practice when one side is injured?

 Question: 

I’ve run into a small obstacle in my practice and I’d love your opinion. As my knees continue to slowly open back up I’m beginning to work on some poses that I have been skipping (Janushirshasana B, and Mariciasana B in particular). While hiking I fractured one of the little bones in the top of my right foot. In these poses where there is pressure on the foot I’m feeling like on my left foot side I can start working but on my right the foot is still very painful/sharp when pressure is there. My question is, do you think it’s better for me to work the poses on one side even though I can’t yet on the other side? Or is it better to wait until I can work both sides?

Laura's Answer: 

Go ahead and continue to do both sides, but on the right side, be very gentle so as not to cause pain. It's necessary to continue to work that foot so the bones will knit. Studies show that bones knit faster if they are put under some stress. By "stress" I mean the engineering definition: "force per unit area within materials (tissues: bones, muscles, tendons, ligaments) that arises from externally applied forces". You don't have to work the two sides equally. Studies also show that exercise on only one side still affects the other side. Good question!