Wing Chun leg kick

[dzu]

From reading your description, it appears as if you were kicking his kicking leg rather than the supporting leg.

It's much easier to damage the knee by kicking the support leg because it's planted and is bearing the person's weight. Analyze the range of motion of the knee and you'll see that it bends in a front to back direction with very little lateral support. That indicates that the best direction to apply force is from the side where the anatomical structure is weakest. Other factors can also magnify the result of the kick.

Kicking the kicking leg can also damage the knee, but it's more difficult because the leg is in space and can move in more directions in response to applied force. It's easier to get a good angle to attack the knee when the leg is not moving.

Dzu

[sanchezero]

The knee is a simple joint in that it only moves in one plane. This simplicity also makes it much more stable than say, the shoulder.

If you hit a bent knee from the front you gotta have pretty mad power to fu<k it up bad. It needs to be attacked while straight or from an angle contradictory to its range of motion.

I think the reason we don't see/receive more knee injuries is because of paranoia. We train to limit others access to our knees, we strengthen our knees, we keep them bent, and I know I'll allow my structure to collapse and goto the dirt if I feel in danger of losing my knee.

It's like an achilles heel, psychologically. I'll suck up mad blows to the torso and even the head, but I'll do anything to save my stumps.

That said, against your average doofus, you can get disabling knee attacks fairly easily. But then, you can do pretty much anything else you want to.

[Martial Joe]

I have seen guys in fights using front kicks like that...knocking the other man right down or seriously hurting him...

[stonecrusher69]

A lot of wing chun people I see when they kick the front leg don't really do it right.If they kick the guys front leg straight on and to far away all the guy has to do is either left his leg,but even if the kick hit the guys knee he can move the leg back and it does'nt do much damage.But if you kick the leg at close range and at a downward angle the guy will not be able able to pull his leg back and the knee will break.