A few years ago when I started learning Tai Chi, I spent a lot of time practicing the routine (Tai Chi 24 Form). At that time, I got a tape from a friend. The quality of the tape was not great but good enough for me. I watched the tape and was amazed by the graceful movements of the performer. I spent 3-4 hours every evening to watch the tape, imitated the postures and movements of the performer until my knees were sore and I was ready to fall into the bed.
Later, I joined a class and learned more forms, from Taiji Quan 24, 48 to 42. I spent all my spare time to practice the forms until one day I heard a noise from my right knee and then I felt the pain.
I was afraid that I broke the cartilage in the knee. I visited an orthopedic doctor. He examined it, took an X-Ray then told me my knee was OK. He asked me to do some exercise to strengthen the muscle around the knee. I bought two sand bags and started doing the exercise following his instructions.
Right now, my knees are stronger but my right knee is always weaker in comparison to the left knee. I have to be very careful about doing warm ups before doing the routines.
My advice to all people who just started learning Tai Chi:
1. Always warm up before you do Tai Chi
2. Don't bend your knees too low unless you have practiced a while and your knees are strong.
3. Find a good teacher to learn Tai Chi. Learn one movement at a time. Do not rush to learn more.
4. When you change the posture and need to make a turn, do not twist your knees. Always shift your body weight first (move your body away from the foot that will turn and support your body weight), reposition your foot, align your knee with your foot then make the turn. (Note: Thanks my friends for correcting this piece of advice - what a collective intelligence! :-)
2 comments:
Hi Cindy.
I think the problem ultimately arises from not receiving correct instruction. In addition, a lot of the wushu-taiji styles tend to favor aesthetics over structurally integrity, especially in regards to the knee.
I trained in the wushu-taiji variant in the beginning of my path and when I asked "why", I often got a response "because it looks good", I kid you not! Needless to say, I have switch schools and now practice the following in all of my movements:
1. Knee and toe must point the same direction
2. Knee does not go beyond the instep of the foot (midline between heel and toe)
That in itself has greatly affected my training. Try to adhere to the above points in all ending postures AND transitions! The hardest is to maintain the knee/instep alignment during transitions!
Good luck and good points of advice :)
wujimon,
Thanks so much for your advice. I will keep that in mind in my future practices.
Frankly, when I first saw Taiji (Tai Chi) demonstration, I was attracted not to its principles or the benefits for health but the slow and graceful movements and peaceful music - it really looked good and beautiful to me. I wanted to achieve that level so much without proper instructions and a process of learning.
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