by slyfox » Wed Sep 20, 2006 9:44 am
Hi, i broke my knee a couple of year ago, well one of the 2 disk inside it. i am now an orthotherapist and a tai chi student. what i would recommend before doing any physical training involving intense knee use would be:
1- make sure your not overweight. i know loosing weight is a touchy subject, but the knee is particularly vulnerable. just an example when you are going up or down some stairs, the way the force travel through the knee in each step is about 3X time your weight. Now imagine a bodybuilder doing some squat with xxx pound. The beating the knee takes is incredile, reaching sometime up to 2000 pound of pressure in the knee.
2- warm up, warm up warm up. When i do tai chi the first set is only to warm up, not alot of streching occur. what i do before training at home is i do some stationnary bicycle. I'd suggest doing about 6-8min with no resistance on the stationnary bike only to get the knee warm up, and then i do another 20min to work cardio and loose the damn weight. then i do some squat and some snake.
3- Strech before strech after to avoid any abnormal residual tension in the ishio and the quadricep. Having alot of tension prevents the normal regeneration of the cartilage and stop the synovial liquid to properly circulate in the knee joint. Before, when i practice my tai chi i use to lock my knee when i streched. the result was that my legs where so jam and the muscle hurted alot when touch. im used to massaging alot of people and i never saw someone with legs as stiff as mine(in a bad way). Now after my new teacher just sayd to let go of the knee i finaly realize what he meant... He wasn't the first to say it to me in my 2 year of practicing tai chi, but for the first time i finaly figure out what he meant. So the key to avoiding residual tension in those muscle is to STRECH. right now i have almost a 1 hour streching schedule that i try to do at least 3 time per week.
Sorry for my english, i studied in french, i trie to make sens, but i fail sometime, if you have any question concerning the term i use, or if i have made some mistake , plz correct me.
and by the way some knee problem can be very serious if not treated properly, id sugest seing a doctor or a physiotherapist before trying to overcome it.
Last edited by
slyfox on Wed Sep 20, 2006 12:28 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Relax, smile
Let go of any tension,
Keep the intention