[0f0t]

i just started snowboarding this season, im onto harder blue runs, nothing to wild. my knees would always kill after i rode i thought from falling on them too much. Now i can get around and i dont really fall all that much, my knee still kill after ridding. i have a feeling its my stance. Im goofy and i ride 15/ -10. Is this a normalish stance? if not what should i try?

 

[poutanen]

That is a relatively normal stance, as long as by -10 on the back leg you mean it's facing backwards. Duck stance isn't for everybody though, so you'll need to play around with things to find something comfortable for YOU.

What is your stance width and how tall are you?

 

[0f0t]

Thanks, yeah its facing backwards, im 5'3" and my stance width is 18"

 

[poutanen]

Thanks, yeah its facing backwards, im 5'3" and my stance width is 18"

Okay that does seem narrow. Are you measuring from the centre of each binding? Easiest way to measure is from the same screw in each plate.

Lots of people are going super wide these days, but I'm a little more conservative. I'm 5'7" and ride with a 21.25" width.

Also, I think most people benefit from a more forward stance when first learning. You could try 0 or -3 on the back foot, and +15 or +18 on the front?

 

[Casual]

Describe your knee pain. Sore, shooting, general, throbbing? Top of the knee, back of the knee, bottom of the knee? Does it hurt after riding, during a turn or what... need way more info to even begin guessing.

It could be that you just have weak knees and you need to do a bunch of squats etc...

 

[BigmountainVMD]

Couple more questions:
How old are you?
Do you stretch after riding?
Where in your knees is the pain? Below or above kneecap? Outside (lateral) or inside (medial)? Front of knee or back?

 

[Casual]

Personally I have weak/damaged patellar tendons in my knees (AKA jumpers knee that vball and bball players get). If I'm riding a lot of rough terrain or repetatively hitting big jumps the lower part of my knees, mostly the right one gets really sore. Once its aggitated it can hurt pretty bad on hard carves but mostly it just throbs afterward and is sore for a couple of days. The pain is pretty focused on the patellar tendon so its the tendon/tissue at the bottom of the knee cap. I had to quit vball so that I could continue to snowboard, after vball games I could hardly walk, snowboarding doesn't aggitate it too bad.

 

[onefutui2e]

i had some knee pain on my left leg that i couldn't explain for the longest time (right above the cap). like you i don't fall too much anymore (at least not on my knees) so i didn't quite figure it out. then one day on a chair lift i noticed the pain flaring up. i looked down and realized that it's because my board's dangling from my leg and therefore pulling on it. once i rested it on the bar or held it over the back on the chair it went away, and the pain slowly dissipated.

just an idea. if it's soreness or anything similar you just need to sack up a bit.

 

[BigmountainVMD]

i had some knee pain on my left leg that i couldn't explain for the longest time (right above the cap). like you i don't fall too much anymore (at least not on my knees) so i didn't quite figure it out. then one day on a chair lift i noticed the pain flaring up. i looked down and realized that it's because my board's dangling from my leg and therefore pulling on it. once i rested it on the bar or held it over the back on the chair it went away, and the pain slowly dissipated.

just an idea. if it's soreness or anything similar you just need to sack up a bit.

I get a similar thing... I'm the snowboarder that always wants to but the bar down for that reason.

 

[Donutz]

I get a sore front knee if I'm doing a lot of jumping or features in a given day. Ice pack helps at the end of the day though.

 

[jjz]

Using my weightlifting knowledge, i would say that you probably want to widen your stance. If you want to be technical about it, by widening your stance your making it so that your knees dont travel as far forward, not passing your toes.

When you knees travel over your toes, it increases torque on them.

Also, you may want to try riding with more of a "cowboy stance".

When doing squats, weightlifters try to avoid there knees buckling in, similiar to keeping your knees facing out when cowboy stance riding. Im not an instructor but im sure one of the guys can explain cowboy stance better than i so im gonna leave it to them.

 

[0f0t]

thanks for your input everyone i'm 16, the pain is usually in the front more towards the inside of my knees after i ride. They really hurt after sitting for long periods of time, i find it hard to stand up. After i get moving it generally goes away. Its usually just feels like its really sore. i don't usually stretch. I think thats it

 

[BigmountainVMD]

thanks for your input everyone i'm 16, the pain is usually in the front more towards the inside of my knees after i ride. They really hurt after sitting for long periods of time, i find it hard to stand up. After i get moving it generally goes away. Its usually just feels like its really sore. i don't usually stretch. I think thats it

I'm gonna throw growing pains up there since you are only 5'3" and 16, but the cowboy stance mentioned above may have some effect. I would focus on how you are bending your knees. Think of a straight line going out from your heel to your toes on each foot. When you bend your knees, try to keep them following that line. I would widen your stance a bit, because 18 inches is pretty short. You wanna go at least a little bit wider than shoulder width. Just make sure when you bend your knees that they are not getting any closer together. Check out "medial collateral ligament or MCL" on google and see if any of that makes sense. This is a page on injuries but it is just a start --> http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001076.htm

I would guess that when you bend your knees, you are bringing your knees closer together, putting excess pressure on the outside of your knee, and stretching the MCL. I know this pic is weird, but if you imagine a line drawn from the hip to the knee, and another line from the heel to the toe, they are both pointing in the same direction, so no extra pressure or tension is put on any ligaments of the knee.

You don't want your stance nearly as wide as the guy in the pic, but the knees and toes pointing in the same direction is important. What I think you are doing is squeezing you knees together in a way (closer to the blue weight in the pic) which causes undo strain on the MCL.

Stretching is a big one and can really help. Quad, hamstring and calf stretches for sure. Also doing some hamstring exercises helps. You pretty much use your quads all day and your hamstrings very little, so if your quads start overpowering your hamstrings too much, you can get some pain (although I believe what you are experiencing is not caused by this, and is more of an MCL thing.)

 

[Donutz]

thanks for your input everyone i'm 16, the pain is usually in the front more towards the inside of my knees after i ride. They really hurt after sitting for long periods of time, i find it hard to stand up. After i get moving it generally goes away. Its usually just feels like its really sore. i don't usually stretch. I think thats it

LOL, I'm 55 and I have the same symptoms. Pretty sure that doesn't mean that I have the knees of a 16 year old. Or if I do, I should return them

Check your stance as others have said. But in addition, do some ice-pack. If you have some swelling from abusing your knees, you can either take it easy for a week or two (which means no snowboarding -- screw that!) or you can reduce the swelling with a bit of cold therapy. Works for me.

 

[Soggysnow]

Describe your knee pain. Sore, shooting, general, throbbing? Top of the knee, back of the knee, bottom of the knee? Does it hurt after riding, during a turn or what... need way more info to even begin guessing.

It could be that you just have weak knees and you need to do a bunch of squats etc...

Or bad patella tracking (like me) which is cause for concern but can be helped by a physio.

 

[Soggysnow]

thanks for your input everyone i'm 16, the pain is usually in the front more towards the inside of my knees after i ride. They really hurt after sitting for long periods of time, i find it hard to stand up. After i get moving it generally goes away. Its usually just feels like its really sore. i don't usually stretch. I think thats it

It could be a fat pad inpingement. It can get very painful inside/under kneecap, the knee on the medial (inside) side. It mimics the pain of a meniscus injury. You may find it gets swollen or spongy.
I actually have this and its a real pain, especially now I am riding more park. There is a way to tape it so that you lift the fat pad up so it doesn't get trapped/irritated.
Get a physio to do a few tests to see if it is this, or just a general tracking problem. It sounds like you need a little something to help.