A frequent complaint of long time yang style tai chi players is knee pain. There are many articles and posts on forums that address this issue. Sometimes this knee pain was so sharp that going up stairs was difficult. Back in the day when I used to practice the yang short form, where we go from weighted to unweighted shifts I would suffer the after class symptoms of that sharp knee pain. I learned how to adjust my foot placement to compensate and try to better align my body as I shifted weight and pushed down while doing the yang form, but it clearly was difficult and my body was receiving messages that perhaps this wasn't the best approach that would work for me.
Interestingly enough, my practice in Chen Tai Chi is MUCH more physically challenging and demanding, and even though I can practice Chen style for over 2-3 hours at a time (Yang, and my knee pain limited me to about an hour to an hour and 15 minutes at a time) I NEVER get the same kind of sharp knee pain I did, when practicing my former yang short form! No lie!
Yes, for sure, my muscles get very tired, and I do get an occasional muscle cramp these days, but joint pain? Never an issue.
Frankly, I don't know why that is. In Chen, we use longer stances, deeper stances, bend our knees alot, shift the weight much more, and practice longer, alot longer, but I am truly grateful that I no longer fear after class joint pain any longer.
Just an observation, that causes me to no longer bother practicing the yang form (I had been practicing that since 1985!) and feel that the Chen form offers me so much incredibly more without the need for developing joint issues.
J
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