Knees

[CheekyMusician]

I've recently got back into regular training in Shotokan karate after a on-off period of training for about 2 and a half years.

Anyway, I'm getting really into working my stances, but have noticed this is causing my knees a lot of pain. I'm wondering if anyone has any tips on how to strengthen the knees to prevent injury or any tips on how to protect them. I had a bit of knee pain back when I first started karate four years ago (probably caused by the fact that I wasn't twisting my supporting foot when kicking) and it was murder so I'm really worried about damaging my knees. I don't want to be hobbling around with dodgy knees for most of my life because of damaging them in karate training when I was young.

Any help is much appreciated!

[mik]

Most guys with knee problems are ether too fat or too skinny. But I havent ever heared of a bodybuil;der with knee problems.

Build lean muscle mass to support your joints.

Squats and legextensions - over 20 reps.

Low reps will harm ur knees even more

[Spirit At Choice]

Could be runner's knee. Are they creaky when you bend and unbend them? Ice, anti-inflammatories and taking off any extra weight will help loads if it's just runner's knee.

If you are not aligning your knee over your toes when you bend, the only way to fix that is proper alignment. Definitely watch your rotation on kicks, but also make sure your knee is going the same direction as your toes in all stances.

[Whitefeather]

I would say that the wisest choice for you would be to go to a knee-ologist (or whatever schmanchy terminology they use) and talk to him/her about it. He/She will be able to set you up with whatever knee-brace, medication, or therapy that you need to keep training.

Regards,

David

[Mike Flanagan]

Its difficult to say much without looking at you, looking at your stances and looking at your knees. If I could do that the problem might be obvious to me, or it might not!

Some things you might want to think about:

1. (As someone already hinted at) Don't overextend your knee past your toes

2. In most stances (except Sanchin or Fudodachi in Shotokan) the knee should be in the same vertical plane as the foot with the knee pointing in the same direction as the toes.

3. Your stances may be too deep, or at least too deep for the degree of strength you have in your legs - so its the joints that end up taking the strain. If this is the case try a) making your stances less deep and b) strengthening the legs (eg. by weight-training NOT by doing deep stances).

Good luck with it.

Mike

[CheekyMusician]

Ok, thanks all you guys!

I'm not generally in pain with my knees, but do feel the strain after doing my stance work, so I'm going to check on my alignment and do some strengthening exercises before I try to work on my deep stances any more.

Thanks for the tips!

[Sohan]

I would like to add that it is important (especially considering your layoff) to ensure that you keep your quads and hamstrings as flexible as you can, unless you already have very flexible joints. Most knee pain I have seen in MA is usually due to tight joints as opposed to weak quad/ham muscles---though if you have a muscle strength imbalance that can affect as well.

Stretch, ice, and rest. You should be back to normal soon. Good luck.

Respectfully,

Sohan

[dotc]

I had this problem as well, when I first started KB. It went away after a few weeks, presumably as my technique improved. If your foot is properly "turn-out" there should be no torsional strain on the knee.