Wide Stance = Bad Knees?

Just read a mag interview with Kyle Schmit. In it he says that having your stance too wide on your board can make you more likely to blow your knees on a hard landing, and that he personally brought his in alittle after some pain. He doesnt seem to mean stupid wide either, so how wide is too wide?
Iam fairly tall (6ft1) and ride with my bindings on the outside holes of 143 parks - my knees sometimes ache after I ride, but nothing major.

Obviously everyones different but are there any guidelines as to how wide a stance starts to put you in more danger on a hard landing?

Try the following experiment. Jump off a chair with your feet about a wide as on your board a few times. Your body will let you know where the comfort point is. You may find by looking at the angles of you feet to your centerline that you may have to alter you stance angle as well. Everyone if different, so play around with your adjustments.

Yeah, that doesn't make any sense to me. Some people suggest strengthening the knees to prevent injury, but I think flexability is more important.
What Karl suggested works great.

I ride both my jobe alpha and premier 135 ducked ALL The way out.

Only thing that keeps your knees from blowing out is good strength. Flexability helps, but, does not do anything if you land wrong a) your legs do not bend that way or b) you hit stright legged and your joint slips or your leg breaks from the pressure.

I noticed that with my legs out all the way, I tend to loose a little flexability. Also with my feet ducked I loose flexability. Only thing is, if my feet are not ducked, my feet tend to hurt from extra pressure.

It seemed that I've always ridden my board all the way out. I've gone to less and less duck as I've progressed. You have to find you're equilibrium. If you're hips, knees, or ankles hurt at all and you didn't twist them, or land straight-legged, alter your stance and I'll bet the pain will stop. My knees and left hip used to hurt after a day of riding but I went to a little less duck and now I never get sore.

what do you mean by duck? is that the angle of your feet in relation to the board?

It is the relationship of your feet to your shoulders. Duck foot is when your feet point out a little bit from each other and not perpendicular to your shoulders. Pigeon-toed is when your feet point toward each other.

like a ducks feet

thats right brian, you see when the... ha. i always just stand in like a sports ready possition to get the angle of my feet(the duckness, if you will.) i am 5'8", ride a 143 parks, and have my bindings all the way out. there isn't any pain from the width but i think there is a benefit and less stress if the back foot isn't ducked as much as the front, especially when cutting. unless you can ride switch as well as your normal stance. but honestly, how many people can do that. actually i dont bring my back foot in, but i probably should. that jumping off the chair experiment sounds like it would work pretty good.

An interesting ACL injury survey from dallaswakeboarding.com. There was a relationship between the following items and people who suffered knee injuries.

Front Leg
Locked knee at landing
Too wide a stance
Ducked out too far

http://dallaswakeboarding.com/messageboard/viewtopic.php?t=1482

i ride my stance all the way out and ducked because it is the most comfortable. I always stretch before i ride just to loosen up the muscles. I think that if you land wrong, your knees are going to be injured either way your stance is. I may be wrong, but i don't think an inch would make that big of a difference.

all the way out and ducked, if you can't ride equally as well switch then you need to work on it. if you aren't duck, your ankles will most likely be the weak spot. warm up and keep your legs strong in the off season. basically use the same stance you would use to do squats.

Remember on mosts boards all the way out if 24-25inches, thats not a whole lot. I guess for a little guy it would be.

Went out today, did the chair thing and moved the bindings in a hole. Even tho it was choppy the knee pain was less, so it worked.

It makes sense to me that having your kit set up in such a way that your body in is an unnatural shape when you ride is gonna make it more likely you get hurt. Surely it doesnt matter how strong or flexi your legs - if they are held in an unnatural way you will get hurt somehow. Seems to have made a difference to me

Oh btw the way thanks karl - top tip - havent heard that anywhere before

you got Rich! right on.

I have found that when I move my back leg in more and dont have it ducked in so much it is more comfortable, but when I ride switch I keep getting pulled back around to my normal stance unless I have my back foot ducked out more. Should I just ride switch more?

Luke, It sounds like you may be putting the majority of your weight on your back leg. when you go switch, do you keep the majority of your weight on the back leg as well? when you feel your back leg getting pulled around to your regular stance, apply more pressure on that foot, and it will most likely shift to the back again.

As far as stance goes, I am 6', 175, and ride with my bindings on the 2nd to last hole. I tried moving them out all the way, and noticed a big difference in strain on my knees.
Whatever your natural takeoff and landing position is, that leg and foot position should be such that it puts your legs in a neutral position in the bindings, with no pressure from the sides, front or back of the bindings. If you are ducked out too far and have your stance too wide, there are a couple pounds of pressure trying to push your legs forward and out. the first joint to facilitate that motion is the knee, since the ankle is locked into the binding. since your muscles are working to absorb the landing, pushing straight down, pressure at the knee joint is intensified, and any side to side pressure is multiplied by hundreds of times.
On my last knee injury, my doctor explained it to me like this.
Take a drinking straw, hold it by one end and lighly flick the side in the middle of the straw. nothing happens. Now stand the straw upright on a table, and apply downward pressure with your finger. flick the side and watch the straw crumple. all of the downward force escapes to the side. that 10 ounces of pressure from your bindings pushing on your calf can become 100 pounds of pressure under the right circumstances.

Go with what's comfortable, what's comfy for me is bow-legged, ducked out as wide as it will go & I'm only 5'7".