Kick sets for those with bad knees ...

Backstroke kick, kicking on the side is very painful! How interesting. Different angles triggering sharper pain? I kind of experimented the same phenomenon in the gym (squats). But that's another story. Back to you. The one thing I am wondering about, is your kicking efficiency. I don't mean to criticize here. Let me illustrate my point. I made the following clip few years back when I wasn't even swimming anymore (too pissed off due to knee pain among other things). It was to help a friend remotely (the clip). It shows my ankle flexibility and relaxation. I am not a bad kicker, and part of my efficiency lies on this. The idea is to reach a state of ankle relaxation that allows for your feet to more freely. The *wire* has no tension whatsoever. It also shows some flexibility test. YouTube - Flutter Kick Floppy Ankles Once you reach this state, you can move forward using less energy, the effort is lessen, the knee suffers less stress, this may work. The following clip was recorded the same day. It shows my slowest kick. Just moving legs up and down with no effort really. Just keeping the ankles very relaxed, the feet (I just wear size 10) act like fins and I move forward. No effort, that can not hurt. You'll notice some bubbles (suggesting that I kick harder than I actually do) but that's just because contrary to what most people advocate, I like to kick on the water. Tap on it, especially at slower speed. And I allow my knees to bend (I don't know if that would made a difference for you). YouTube - Very slow flutter kick I am sure that becoming more energy efficient is your best bet for now. That'll allow you to remove some strain off your knees while maintaining decent forward thrust. Over years, if you respect them, your knees may become better and better. For now, substitute breaststroke kick for butterfly kick (but this you already knew I am sure). And for the breaststroke, well, that is a challenge. And my only clue would be the gym for this (stroke mechanics put aside of course). ** Edit ** you know, breaststroke kicking for you? I'd probably decompose the movement dryland home quiet in your bedroom or something. You know what to do really. The challenge is to be able to perform a composite movement, complex, dynamic, where any component might hurt. Divide and conquer. Stand still in your bed room with feet little larger than shoulders, bend the knees slightly inward (I am improvising here.... I am sure you can do the same). That'll lead you to strange breaststroke specific squats (body weight only). Just don't bring yourself to tears. You may tolerate slight pain if you find it beneficial to the *research* process (tolerate slight pain, wait a day or two, retry and see, repeat over weeks and months, any change? better? worse? etc... long process but that's the way it is). I don't think we should run away from pains in order to win over them. But you have to be very smart in dealing with them, and expect or *aim* for some articular adaptation, tendons, muscle balance between antagonist causing the articulation to work the way it was meant to (takes a lot of time) which translate into less and less and less pain. That's the rule of the game, at least in my mind.

Backstroke kick, kicking on the side is very painful! How interesting. Different angles triggering sharper pain? I kind of experimented the same phenomenon in the gym (squats). But that's another story. Back to you. The one thing I am wondering about, is your kicking efficiency. I don't mean to criticize here. Let me illustrate my point. I made the following clip few years back when I wasn't even swimming anymore (too pissed off due to knee pain among other things). It was to help a friend remotely (the clip). It shows my ankle flexibility and relaxation. I am not a bad kicker, and part of my efficiency lies on this. The idea is to reach a state of ankle relaxation that allows for your feet to more freely. The *wire* has no tension whatsoever. It also shows some flexibility test. YouTube - Flutter Kick Floppy Ankles Once you reach this state, you can move forward using less energy, the effort is lessen, the knee suffers less stress, this may work. The following clip was recorded the same day. It shows my slowest kick. Just moving legs up and down with no effort really. Just keeping the ankles very relaxed, the feet (I just wear size 10) act like fins and I move forward. No effort, that can not hurt. You'll notice some bubbles (suggesting that I kick harder than I actually do) but that's just because contrary to what most people advocate, I like to kick on the water. Tap on it, especially at slower speed. And I allow my knees to bend (I don't know if that would made a difference for you). YouTube - Very slow flutter kick I am sure that becoming more energy efficient is your best bet for now. That'll allow you to remove some strain off your knees while maintaining decent forward thrust. Over years, if you respect them, your knees may become better and better. For now, substitute breaststroke kick for butterfly kick (but this you already knew I am sure). And for the breaststroke, well, that is a challenge. And my only clue would be the gym for this (stroke mechanics put aside of course). ** Edit ** you know, breaststroke kicking for you? I'd probably decompose the movement dryland home quiet in your bedroom or something. You know what to do really. The challenge is to be able to perform a composite movement, complex, dynamic, where any component might hurt. Divide and conquer. Stand still in your bed room with feet little larger than shoulders, bend the knees slightly inward (I am improvising here.... I am sure you can do the same). That'll lead you to strange breaststroke specific squats (body weight only). Just don't bring yourself to tears. You may tolerate slight pain if you find it beneficial to the *research* process (tolerate slight pain, wait a day or two, retry and see, repeat over weeks and months, any change? better? worse? etc... long process but that's the way it is). I don't think we should run away from pains in order to win over them. But you have to be very smart in dealing with them, and expect or *aim* for some articular adaptation, tendons, muscle balance between antagonist causing the articulation to work the way it was meant to (takes a lot of time) which translate into less and less and less pain. That's the rule of the game, at least in my mind.