I’m back to bust some more movement myths! So – is it dangerous to let your knees move over your toes?
TL;DR: NO! Knees passing forward over the toes is a normal everyday movement
If you walk down stairs, crouch down to get something out of a cupboard, or kneel on the ground – your knees pass over your toes.
It’s a normal, functional movement pattern. And the knees – like all other joints – are capable of adapting to all kinds of movements, so long as we progress them gradually!
A hinge is a hinge, and a squat is a squat
Sometimes this fear of knees-over-toes (a very natural movement) causes us to change our movement patterns.
I sometimes see dancers teaching strength exercises like a squat with a huge hip hinge. But in the world of strength training: a hinge is a hinge, and a squat is a squat.
Deep level changes with an upright torso:
More similar to a squat pattern
Big hip exterior hip circles where the hips travel back and the knees stay relatively still:
More similar to a hinge pattern
So… What is a hinge and a what is a squat?
In a hinge movement, the hips go backward. By shifting the weight backward, we load the hamstrings and glutes more.
In a squat movement, we sit straight down, allowing the knees to travel forward, and maintaining a relatively upright torso. This allows us to load the quads a bit more, AND to get deeper in a squat (further loading the quads!).
Restricting the knees from tracking forward just redistributes force elsewhere
A study examining the back squat movement found that not letting the knees come forward “may minimize stress on the knees,” but forces are then “inappropriately transferred to the hips and low-back region. Thus, appropriate joint loading during this exercise [the squat] may require the knees to move slightly past the toes.” (Fry et al., 2003).
Knees coming forward over toes may even be a good thing!
This 2023 paper (Illmeier & Rechberger) stated: “…it may be favorable or even necessary to allow a certain degree of anterior knee displacement in order to achieve optimal training outcomes and minimize the biomechanical stress imparted on the lumbar spine and hip. Overall, restricting this natural movement is likely not an effective strategy for healthy trained individuals.”
If you have an injury, of course you should adjust!
When people have knee pain, I often suggest making their bodyweight squats more hingey!
But this doesn’t mean that knees travelling forward over toes is dangerous.
It’s a bit like when you get a sunburn. You don’t want to go out in the sun again right away. You want to cover up and use aloe vera until it’s healed.
Injuries are the same – we avoid certain movements in acute phases, then work our way back towards them as part of the rehabilitation process.
What does any of this have to do with Raqs Sharqi?!
I still see well-meaning dance teachers telling their students to avoid level changes and “save them for the stage” because of a fear of the knees going over toes too often.
You will not tolerate more by doing less.
We would be much be prepared for the demands of our dance if we… prepared for the demands of our dance!
That means slowly building up towards movements we want to carry out on stage, through practising them, and through strengthening the movement patterns (like squats!) similar to the dance movements we want to achieve.
Did you learn something new about movement?
My name is Siobhan Camille.
I’m an exercise scientist and a professional dancer.
I love helping dancers get better, stronger, and more resilient.
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