Lateral Knee Bar Escape
Lateral knee bar escape — keep the knee bent and the hip to the mat in turtle, rotate toward the trapped knee to kill the lateral vector, then lace the ankle and curl.
Adapted from the original page. Grappling.Games did not write this. Sources.
FamilyEscapes & DefenceLevelAdvancedPerspectiveBottomIntentDefensiveSafetyElevatedHubLeg EntanglementsMapView on graph →This technique has elevated risk. Make sure you've covered the prerequisites before attempting.
Manage injuries →Position map Connects to 4 positions across 2 relationshipsOpen in the map →1234←Escape route from
The lateral knee bar extends the knee sideways rather than straight back. For the attack, see Lateral Knee Bar. It comes out of leg rides, turtle top and back exposure — the positions where an attacker already has a leg threaded — and it loads the knee on a vector the joint is not built for.
That vector is the whole difference from a standard knee bar. A knee bar extends the hinge, which the knee at least has some structure against; the lateral version loads the medial side, which is ligament rather than architecture. It is why some rulesets restrict it and why the defensive priority is stated more sharply than the mechanics alone would suggest.
The defence follows the vector. Bend the knee to remove the extension the attack needs; rotate toward the trapped knee to take the lateral component off; and if you are already there, lace the ankle and curl to fight the extension directly.
Elevated RiskLateral Knee Bar (Defence) is an elevated risk technique. Extension of the knee combined with a lateral vector, loading the medial ligaments rather than the hinge. This is a worse mechanism than a conventional knee bar for a simple structural reason: the knee has some tolerance in extension and almost none sideways, so the same amount of applied force reaches injury much faster. Medial ligament damage is a long recovery and often a surgical one, and it commonly takes meniscal damage with it. Serious injury can occur Very short. The lateral component reaches injury before the extension component would on its own..
If you are new to this technique: read this section before anything else. Understanding the danger is part of understanding the technique.
The person applying the technique is responsible for releasing immediately.