Knee strengthening

[red5angel]

Ok, does anyone have any suggestions for strengthening my knees? I am in wing chun and the goat holding/horse stance is killing my knees, enough that periodically my right knee has given out when taking the first step up a flight of stairs. Right now I am doing slow, wide stance squats, but does anyone else have any other ideas to go with that?

[norther practitioner]

while most people will emphasize building up quad strength, it is important to remember to work out the rest of the leg muscles. If you have ever blown out your knee, or think that you may have scar tissue in there, then a good way to work it down is to put your leg up on something, relax the muscles, and move your knee cap around a little (not too hard, you don't want to injure yourself). This will help a bit. Also riding a bike is a good way to loosen and strengthen around the knee. Be careful with squats, you don't want to get your knee out in front of your toes.

[Johnny Hot Shot]

Ride a bike.

[GunnedDownAtrocity]

how long have you been in wing chun?

best way i know to strengthen the knees is to streatch and stand in horse stance (with perfect form) longer than you are possibly able to.

[GunnedDownAtrocity]

i have heard that wc's goat stance is just as good for your knees, even though it may not look like it, but i have never done the style so i couldn't say for sure.

[red5angel]

I have been doing it off and on for a couple of years, seriously now for about three months. Our stance is deep, and I am aware taht it will take some time to adjust, but I am looking for something that specifically hits the knees as well, to supplement all that standing around in horse stance!

[JWTAYLOR]

Bike riding is a good one, but also do some squats. Try unweighted squats like the Hindu Squats that Matt Furey proposes. I love them.

Then, deadlifts. Bent and staight leg deadlifts. But get your squats down first.

JWT

[Cyborg]

The problem may not be in your knee(s) at all. There may be an imbalance somewhere else causing that pain. Look into any other problems such as ankle, back, shoulder or almost any joint. It's wierd what can affect it. My brother had an ankle prob. and within two months he started having back problems. I have a back prob. (getting better now) that impacted my ankle. Maybe it's none of those but I'd look into it.

[fa_jing]

Cyborg is right about addressing other parts of your body that may be bothering you - it's amazing how an injury propagates throught your body. Also, the WC goat stance (relatively high) is a low impact way to strenghthen your knees.

Get yourself checked out by an Orthopedist. I was diagnosed with Patellar tracking dysfunction many years ago, they had me do leg extensions only the last 30 degrees of the movement, which strengthened a particular part of the quad muscle on the opposite side of the knee pain. Haven't had too much trouble since then.

Try not to hyperextend your leg if you do kicks in the air.

-FJ

[Repulsive Monkey]

Try regularly massaging points Bladder 64 and Kidney 3.

[anerlich]

Seek advice from a physiotherapist or qualified health professional rather than seek unqualified advice from the web. You may have a specific weakness which requires a specific remedy.