Does anyone have their students do the wall stretch. The one I am specifically referring to is where you lay on your back with your butt flush with the wall and then put your legs against the wall in 2nd position.

Gravity seems to be largely at work here.

I never saw this used on the East Coast, but everyone seems to use it in their teen classes on the West Coast.

Tried it today and all of us (including myself) had pain on the inside of the knee.

Does this stretch compromise any of the tendons/ligaments surrounding the knee? I don't want to break my kids.

we do the wall stretch... are you making sure that knee is pointing to floor.... also I tell girls to focus on their thighs and hips relaxing... it never has hurt my knees and girls haven't said anything

So fully turn out? We were not focused on that. Maybe that was it...we were too parallel maybe?

I do this all the time with my students.

I did this in my training as a gymnast as well. As the other poster mentioned you need to turn out the legs.

Thank you both. That must be what happened...cuz ow!

Glad to be informed so I don't break any of us, including myself.

we have also added... starting with knees bent (ie in second plie...trying to get knees to floor)and then extend the legs.... this stretches the hamstring in the thigh better... we do it with flexed foot and with pointed toe...

I grew up doing this stretch nd have my students do it occasionally too. I have never heard of starting with the knees bent, but I am excited to try it next week. I have had a few kids complain about knee pain and would like to know the physiological aspects behind that. It seems like the same kids complain about knee pain while holding front and center splits.

One important thing that I have heard with holding the wall splits is to never hold them for more than one minute at a time. Something about if you dont relax the muscles after one minute and inbetween sets, it can do harm to your muscle fibers... Someone correct me if I am wrong!

I've done it for 'all my life'. But 'knees pointing to the floor? No.
My two versions:
1: Legs parallel, feet flexed, open legs
2: Legs turned out, feet 1st position, open legs
(When you are in the right postion with your legs, you can relax or point your feet.)

Most important thing to avoid knee problems is to keep them straight. The moment you relax them, you hang in your knee ligaments etc.

lidwina wrote:

Most important thing to avoid knee problems is to keep them straight. The moment you relax them, you hang in your knee ligaments etc.

Knees were straight, but I the leg was relaxed. It felt just as you said, that I was compromising the ligaments.

Keeping the quadricepts engaged during the stretch will support the knee joint.

In Yoga we generally encourage to engage or activate the opposing muscles to support the joints and ligaments during a posture or stretch. "Active Stretching"

Thanks. Yes quads were relaxed.

That's funny you mention this..because I had a parent yell at me over this the other day stating that it is not helping her daughter's dance training whatsoever.


Honestly though, I LOVE doing them, and will keep having my classes do them!!!

Yes, all of the time. I do not work on the turnout part until they get down lower but it works great. Later on I have them turn their knees and toes up to the ceiling. I make them hold it for three minutes. Been doing it for years with no damage or injuries.

On a side note, today there is no pain in that area whatsoever. Maybe it's just hitting an area that has never been stretched so that it felt uncomfortable. It just didn't feel like typical muscle pain, that's what concerned me.

The first time I did this stretch was when I was 24, in a stretch class at the end of my first week of studying with a dance company...I was sore and tired...the stretch felt great, but it did hurt around my joints (hips and knees) the first time, the next week when we did it it felt much better. I think it was just being really tight in a few places that got a good stretch. (We stayed there for a full song! 3-4 minutes)

Thanks all.

I like static stretches, which this one is. The reason for three minutes is that the first minute you are very tight, the second minute you start to feel the burn, the third minute the muscles start to relax and stretch. This was something that I actually learned from Prevention Magazine, years ago.

I do this stretch all the time with my students, plus some other ones. I ditto everything everyone has already said - and we are in NY.

lidwina wrote:


My two versions:
1: Legs parallel, feet flexed, open legs
2: Legs turned out, feet 1st position, open legs
(When you are in the right postion with your legs, you can relax or point your feet.)

This sounds like what we do at our studio.