Thread: Knee pain after practicing with hips

I'm on my third belly dance lesson, and I'm a total newbie to any kind of dancing. I'm working on hip isolations, and experiencing pain in my knees. It's not excruciating, but I don't want to hurt myself. I asked my teacher, and she wasn't much help. She just said to be sure and keep my knees bent, which I'm already careful to do. How can I protect my knees while moving my hips? Thanks!

• Never lock your knees.
• Never ram them back.
• Keep the centre of the knee over the centre of the foot - most common mistake beginners make.
• Do it slowly until your technique is perfect and only then speed it up.
• Limit drilling (at this stage) to 3 minutes at a stretch.

Good luck

You may find knee strengthening exercises helpful seeing you haven't had any previous dance experience your knees may not be use to being used the way you are now using them

You could ask a physio therapist or even a fitness instructor for a couple of knee strengthening exercises.

Check out a few of the exercises here, 11 Exercises that Help Decrease Knee Pain, you may find 1, 2 & 5 helpful, just take things gently until you build up strength though.
~Mosaic

You should not be experiencing any knee pain from belly dancing. If you are, there is something wrong. See if you can talk to a doctor, show them what you're doing, and see if they can point to the possible culprit.

Kashmir makes a good point when talking about keeping your weight central over your feet.

It's very common to find yourself leaning forward as you practise, and that puts pressure on the knees.

Check in with your toes occasionally- if you can't lift them up and wiggle them then you've drifted forward and need to reset your posture.

I sometimes get knee pain when dancing, but I know what it is and I know why it happens Kashmir has given the causes, because I have had it before and had an arthroscophy on one knee to sort it out. The problem is damaged cartilage or inflamed bursas, with me it was both and a stretched anterior cruciate ligament I had really wrecked my knee. Twenty years ago prior to the arthroscophy it was the result of overdoing it through mountain rescue and now it is just old age creeping in and I admit, overdoing it on the hills again quite recently, you see intensive exercise in short bursts stresses stuff, especially if you are not used to the exercise,and a year out of BD weakened the muscles embarrassingly so, I am actually quite disgusted with myself for allowing myself to degrade that far.

So yeah, it hurts I know and makes one lose confidence but there is a way around the problem to avoid surgery and further knee pain and way around is to strengthen the supporting muscles and change your posture to one of knees slightly bent instead of straight legs as is common in the west, which also tends to lead onto lower back problems if it is not corrected. Think of the spine and legs as a curved spring to support the head, straightening the spring anywhere allows impact to cause shock which results in stress at joints and inevitable pain which is an indicator damage is being created.

Belly dance if done properly corrects posture, it corrected mine, so I know and I was kind of 'crumpled' through years of overdoing stuff and having various accidents, auto crashes and other activities, leisure activities that do not give guidance on posture and carriage and yeah, quite possibly the onset of arthritis, which is a condition synonymous with an active past

I will remember back to the first few weeks of doing belly dance, one knee gave it hell complaining all the time, but I worked through it and practised what Kashmir said, at first the thigh muscles were weak and tired easily, but in time they strengthened and now my everyday posture is one with knees slightly bent as it should be to maintain the S curve spring, it has become normal posture.

But one exercise that I do know helps the knee is cycling and that because a correctly fitted and adjusted cycle, the exercise keeps the knee in line whilst exercising it and the associated muscles, that being the knee is only designed to bend in one direction, moving it in directions it is not designed for will cause damage and the inevitable pain. I now use clip in pedals as not only does it give full exercise, any twisting of the knee results in the pedals disengaging there forcing me to keep my knees straight.

There is yoga as well in the form of Iyengar yoga that makes one very aware of the bad habits we have picked up over the years that cause problems to us, but that is not a nice yoga as it works to correct the posture and to me when I did it, it was a pain session, but I learned about my posture which is very important to avoid future damage and pain and although I do not do Iyengar any more I remember the lessons and correct myself when I am aware of my body.

But one thing I always do when I experience pain or discomfort in any part of my body, is clue myself up on the area, by finding and reading literature so I know what is happening mechanically. So my advice is clue up on the structure of the knee, know what is going on when you move and there know what is going on when you experience pain, so you may take appropriate action.


But a useful website I tend to go to quite often and what it says on knee structure ;

Knee Joint Structure & Function | LIVESTRONG.COM

Wow, thanks for the great advice. I'm 55. I was always the wallflower when people started dancing, but over the last few years, six different friends called to say I'd love belly dancing, so I thought about it, and then my husband gave me lessons for my birthday.

Imagine me in class for the last three weeks, feeling bulky and awkward at 5'5"/216, avoiding mirrors, and having NO idea what I'm doing, but wanting to learn and loving belly dance and belly dance culture. I believe there's a belly dancer inside me.

But then my knees started hurting. I injured a knee in high school, and the doctor predicted arthritis later in life. I hit both knees on the dashboard in a car accident a couple years ago and an x-ray confirmed arthritis then, but the knees healed, and haven't been a problem until now.

I don't want to belly dance in public. I've adopted a sometimes-daily (I think it's Iyengar here's the link) yoga practice which I love, but I've discovered tightness in my lower body, so I also see belly dancing as a fun way to get my heart rate up, strengthen my hips and thighs and get in closer touch with my body.

I keep my knees loose, but after reading your replies, I may be weirdly balanced forward or backward, and I'm definitely more comfortable practicing a little pigeon-toed. I'll work on those problems. Can you recommend a video that would give me a basic routine to help me develop the necessary muscles outside of class?

In class three of the beginner's belly dance class, the teacher handed out choreography (below). Is this common? I barely understand the steps, much less choreography, so I'd rather learn the basics first, but the class is only a mile away, and there's not much else in our area, so I'm enjoying myself and learning what I can.

Thanks again!

Starling

"TALAKIK" BY HAKIM

INTRO- FACING REAR. 8C SHOULDER SHIMMY
1. 8C Rock step, (r foot), Double hip thrust, R& L
2. Repeat 4c rock step, turn to L with double Hip thrust
3. Repeat again, Double Hip Thrust to face front.
4. Repeat 4th time, after 4c rock step, 4c Hip circle bounce.
5. R Hip uu/dd (switch feet)
6. L Hip UU/dd.
7. 3 pt turn to Lt., 3 pt. turn to Rt.
8. R Hip isolation, 4c, L. Hip isolation 4c
9. Hip circle 6c. Shoulder shimmy 2c
10. Rock step to left side, then to right, 4c ea.
11. Figure 8 with accents. (Start R hip)
12. Step point (start R foot) fwd 6c, Pivot turn to face rear.
13. Hip pushes out, LRLR 4C
14. Hip shimmy, 4c.

MUSIC CHANGE. (Facing rear)
20. Basic back 8c
21. Camel Right 6c, shoulder shimmy, 2c
15. Mya step R&l x2, 4C
16. Look back over l shoulder, Look back over R. shoulder. 1 c ea.
17. Step slide step, start R foot, 6c. , Pivot step, 2c to face front,
18. Accent shoulder shimmy, facing front
19. Harem waltz, 8c
22. Camel Left 4c, hip circle bounce 2c.

INSTRUMENTAL- CHANGE LINES
23. Back line step point fwd, 8c.
24. Front line, step point back, 8c.
25. Isolated (R) hip around self, 8c
26. Hip thrust walking fwd. 8c, RL RL with shoulder shimmy
27. Camel off, first line to R, Back line to L.
END.

A choreo eek !

No I have done a few, picked up some parts, but never as of yet managed to be confident I can do any, but they are useful in that for a beginner they show how all the singular movements can flow together to create a picture of sorts, and there the transitions from one movement to the other and how the music works.

Go with it and blunder through, that is my ethos as for sure you will pick up something out of it, all in the name of fun.

But it is usual in classes from my experience the singular practice carries on along with parts of the choreo, small chunks at a time, until weeks later bigger chunks are added together until one has a complete choreo and there hopefully a better understanding of the art of belly dance. One does not have to perform you know, what you do is entirely up to yourself, you have your own goals.

But age fifty five, go for it, reverse the age, I started at age forty, forty four now and am feeling the benefits of dancing, oh and you have a sympathetic husband, here's an idea, get him dancing !

The thing with the knee alignment is the sideways twist. Especially common when you are just starting because you tend to push your pelvis around with your legs rather than your abs and the knee may end up between your legs or out to the side.

Assuming you've seen a doctor, you might try a knee support. One of my students with badly damaged arthritic knees uses them when we do a lot of direction changes which can torque the knees under some circumstances. (But as a three week beginner you shouldn't be doing anything like that)

After three weeks, I would not expect a student to do a choreography. However if you have joined an existing class that has been going a few months it might happen. Technique first then choreography. For a short part of the class following along best you can is no big deal. If it is most of the class you are likely to pick up very bad habits as you try and do something like what the others are doing. Breaking a bad habit is then needed before building a good one.

Wew tend to tense up whe practising - and as Kashmir says we use the legs too much. Think about moving a spot just above your pubic bone pulling and pushing with the muscles around instead of using the legs.

I have very bad knees as I started at 57 and am now 62. Some teachers try to make you drill too many repetitions so that you get sore and lose what you are trying to do. I always stop and shimmy inbetween - as I kow my knees won't take it.