Hi,
What sort of stresses does boxing put on the knees?
I am a Judoka/Wrestler who has had knee problems. I feel a lot of my problems are from takedowns.
I am planning on training just BJJ and boxing from now on.
I have had an arthroscope on both knee's due to football. I can't run long distances because of this but have never had a problem skipping, shadow boxing, sparring, fighting or punching the bag or pads.
Personally I think its pretty good and easy on your knees (as long as you don't keep getting knocked down and have to keep getting back up), if your knees hurt when you stick and move and dance around the ring go to more or a Tyson/Kostya sort or style.
as far as the combat sports, it's probably the best.
but be careful with the twisting and pivoting.. stuff can still happen.
B_I_C is right. Overall, Boxing is pretty easy on your knees. The worst case scenario is that you injure your knee running (conditioning) or that you pivot incorrectly and twist your knee. It can happen if your foot catches as you're trying to pivot....
Amazingly, Muay Thai is pretty gentle on the knees as well. You wouldn't think so due to the risk of getting kicked in the knees and also from using your knees as weapons. I used to do Karate, BJJ, and Judo at various times throughout my martial arts history, and each of these other MA's would irritate my knees in some way. The only time I've hurt my knees in Muay Thai is from overdoing something in my conditioning work outside of the actual Muay Thai training.
To clarify, I've never injured the joint itself, such as cartilage, tendons, ligaments.... I have bruised up the muscles by kneeing someones elbows or taking a kick on the knee. But the actual STRUCTURE of the knee has never been an issue.
I've had my knee "shift" so that I can't stand on it on three seperate occasions. Normally it comes from twisting motions, or pivoting. One time it happened in sparring which really sucked. All in all though I don't have many knee problems from boxing.