by Inga » Sat Aug 06, 2011 8:16 am
Greetings welcome to the forum. I think given your age, and you are new to martial arts, and you have a potential medical issue it would be worth seeking advice on your knees. You should see if you have an injury now, or are at risk of incurring one. Are you in the UK? I know they aren't big on preventative meds, but perhaps even seeing a nurse at a walk-in surgery or a NHS hotline chat might give you some idea.
The long fist form for ma bu (horse stance) is indeed, toes pointing forward, knees over the toes. I have noticed in my class, people seem to feel discomfort in their thighs when they get low, and I feel it in my knees (like you I am an older student, but I've been training for many years). I try and stay 'relaxed' on top, and settle into the stance, to think about my weight distribution and try and adjust (shift weight a little forward, a little back, a little to the side, etc). Getting low is something that ideally one builds up to, it's awesome, but correct form is imperative. I don't know if having bowed legs prevents you from having correct form. I do know that the white crane ma bu is knees angled in (ideally not even a fist can get between them) and this is always murder on my knees, much more so than long fist ma bu.
One thing I can recommend is massaging the area, above and below the knee, lead qi to it. Do it regularly, make it even an absentminded habit, while you are sitting for a moment at work, at a red light, etc. This has helped my knee discomfort a lot, when they are sore, and I use it as a preventative too, even when they are feeling okay, I massage. I find that the more I use them, they better they feel, sadly I don't have as much time to train as I would like :( life keeps getting in the way haha.
Well best wishes with your training, I hope the bow legged issue is not really a problem, that you are just adjusting to a new routine. Training is tiring and makes us sore, no matter one's age. Injury can happen at any point, and we just train around it, and do our best. As one senior student says in our class (he also practices TCM) "Train hard, train smart". So if you find you are having worries with your teacher, try and communicate with him - if he 'breaks' you, you aren't going to be coming back to train anymore, so it's in his interest as well as yours to stay healthy so you can make progress. Perhaps run a message in his language through googletranslator and print it out, something short that lets him know you want to try hard, and have good form, but getting low might take time. Or if you discover you should splay your feet because of your body structure, let him know that too - but find out first so you have not just a suspicion but confirmation.
Cheers