# Bad knee - stance advice



## Jdanders8

Considering starting snowboarding after previous years skiing. I’m 50 and I’ve have numerous injuries and surgeries on right knee, so it’s permanently not great/weaker. I’d probably normally be goofy foot with a dominant left on back and right in front. But wondering if that is the best with my right knee issue. Any other bum knee riders here? Does front or back leg/knee get less strain? I’d try riding regular if it makes more sense to have bad knee in back.


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## 604al

I'm not sure it should matter which knee should be front or back as you're about even weighted when you ride. In my opinion if one knee isn't strong enough, I wouldn't ride until it is. If you are going to test it out, I'd spend an hour or two playing with stance angles and widths at home just to see what's most comfortable for you as you squat up and down. I've had three knee surgeries, but cycle and leg strength train before the snowboard season.


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## NT.Thunder

I've recently moved to a +/+ stance and find that feels much more comfortable for me, I don't ride much switch, mostly directional boards and mellow carving but find that works best for me.


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## WigMar

++ stance angles have helped my knees as well. Everyone's body is different though- I'd experiment to see what feels good.


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## Luffe

Personally, my back knee gets more beat up than my front knee from snowboarding. But that might just be because my back knee is a little bum in the first place.


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## freshy

Right knee problems and goofy here. My personal experience has been using a knee brace and that helped until this year. I'm older and my knee is in more pain even with that brace which was supermarket quality. I noticed heelside turns aggravated it and toe side did not. Anyway I just found a much better brace that's tighter and more rigid and supportive so here's hoping that one works better.


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## Elevation212

I’m a large 40 and ride with these on both knees, love the extra support, compression and the light padding is pretty clutch for tumbles or kneeling









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## Jimi7

Another vote for knee braces and double positive binding angles. Depending on how my knees are I'll go with a hinged brace, compression brace or no brace at all. Your front foot should be whichever foot you feel more comfortable with up front. Depending on terrain and riding style you may put more weight on your front or back leg.


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## easyrider16

Experiment with different stances. There are multiple factors, like your style, snow quality, where the damage is in your knee, etc. What might be comfortable for you may not be comfortable for others. Personally I had a left knee injury and found I got a lot of knee pain if my front foot was more than 18 degrees positive. With 18,-9 duck I have no pain. with 27, +3 I had crazy front knee pain. YMMV.


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## lbs123

I'm goofy and have bad/weak left knee from injury 10 years ago. I always though it was better that I injured my back knee as there is a bigger stress on the front knee when riding. But I'm able to ride switch without much trouble now. Since you're just starting you could start as regular and once you get better, you could start riding switch which theoretically should be easier for you if you're natural goofy.

Also to reduce impact on your knees you can look for some custom insoles with impact reduction.


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## bob2356

I agree you need to play with the stance until you find what works.

After 30+ years I've done everything from +-15 to ++50 45 (hard boots) and have settled back down to +30 25 with a pretty narrow 18 stance as the most comfortable and easiest on my knees. Which is ironic since it's pretty much what I started with in the first place back in the day of clipping in with ski boots. . No switch obviously.


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## Hurricane

You need to pick goofy or regular stance based on what feels natural not because of what knee is in better shape, you will learn much faster that way. At 46 I have arthritis under both knee caps and found that a good brace on the back leg pretty much takes all the pain away when riding. I really only get pain in my back leg (right) and it's usually when hitting those small bumps that you don't see.


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## OneRound

I'm goofy and I have arthritis in my left knee so my back foot. I ride -15/+15 and I find it quite comfortable for my knees. I rode with bauerfeind braces (which are some of the best imo) through the whole last season and had bad swelling in my left knee with bakers cyst. This year I'm riding without braces as my physio told me braces might not be the best option for arthritis (at least in early stages). Arthritic knee basically means bone on bone grinding and braces tighten everything even more. So I did 4 days this season and so far my knee is holding quite well (fingers crossed). Even did some jumps etc. I do heavy icing and rest after each day and I make sure I don't ride for two or more consecutive days.
Also type of snow is very important. I avoid hard icy snow like the plague!
P.s.: also try and strenghten your quads as much as possible during off season. It helps A LOT.


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