Thread: Student with knee pain?

I had a student ask me about knee pain at the last class. I corrected her posture (her knees were too bent) but I was wondering if there might be anything else that would be affecting her?

My knees are also bad (mainly from doing floorwork, and this is a beginner class, so no floorwork, just hip circles and such).

There are a lot of different reasons for knee pain -it's almost impossible to tell what is causing it without a knee exam. Age, weight, former injuries, foot problems etc...

Where is her knee pain? Inner, outer kneecap? Above the knee? Behind the kneecap? At the back of the knee?

What movements are causing the pain?

Did she have knee pain prior to taking your class?

Lauren - she didn't say exactly where but that after the class she felt knee pain, or whether she had it previously. When I asked her to stand in-posture her knees were far more bent than they should have been. I am hoping with that correction she will be fine now but I wanted to make sure that it was most likely that. I am keeping a closer eye on her now just to be safe.

You will definitely need more information about the pain. The first thing I check on students who mention knee pain is their standing weight distribution. If they are leaning forward or back with their weight much instead of centered, it can cause discomfort in the knees.

Other than that - I agree with Lauren. Ask a lot of questions on it and see what you can do to adjust any movements that are causing problems for her.

Thanks guys. I want to make sure my students are doing well and not feeling pain.

Without knowing of any pre-existing conditions, it's hard to say, but here are some things to look for:

Alignment - does the knee go directly over the toe when she bends the knee, or does it go in a different direction? Should be over the toe.

Exercises - lunges can cause knee pain if you allow the knee to hyperextend, ie, to go beyond the toe.

Using the "push from the foot" method of producing hip movements can stress the knee. Emphasize pulling with the torso muscles.

Type of floor you're dancing on - if it's a sprung wood floor, that's good. If it's linoleum lying directly on concrete, the rigidity of the concrete can cause knee pain.

Foot sticking to floor when dancer tries to spin can cause knee pain. That's because the knee torques if the foot doesn't pivot freely. Carpeting is a bad dance surface for this reason. Dancing barefoot can be a problem for this reason - I always advise my students to wear either socks or dance shoes that pivot freely.

foward and backward hip figure 8's can also torque the knee if not done correctly. were you doing those?

Everything that Shira said. In addition be careful with stretches that the thigh and lower leg are not at less than a 90 degree angle during quad stretches. With bent leg in standing position the knee should not extend beyond the toes. I would also inquire as to any other exercise she might be doing that could be causing pain like cycling, running, squats with weights, lunges, step class, Stairmaster? Even standing or walking for an extended period of time on hard, unforegiving surfaces could be an underlying cause that poor posture in dance class simply exacerbated.

I wear a knee brace during class and for workshops simply to give a little more stability to my bad knee so that I don't do any more damage to it than I already did in my life predance.

Yes, we were doing figure eights. I will keep a very close eye on her while we are doing those. I will also ask if she does anything else as far as physical activity goes.

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Knees slightly bent at all times and don't ever start without warming up legs. My recent bout started with egyptian shimmy without warming up and has continued off and on for 3 weeks. Know hurts when I straighten knee esp when weighted. Probably overextended and pulled something

As a person with chronic knee pain (meniscus removal plus ACL reconstruction, articular cartilage damage in my left knee), I find that a soft neoprene knee brace helps. I recently found that folding it down under me knee cap is as effective as wearing it normally. Knee caps tend to track incorrectly in the femoral groove if the quads are weak so that could be the problem in your student's case. Quarter squats, wall sits, and one legged step ups are cheap and effective exercises to strengthen the quads.

Thanks everyone. I asked her again this week and she said it was the posture thing (she had been bending her knees too much), and when she straightened out a bit, the pain went away.

Still, I'll keep an eye out. Then there are MY knees. Ugh. They were fine before. Getting old, I guess.