Does squatting weaken knees?

[budz]

Does doing squats at the gym weaken your knees?? If they do, would it mean more chance of knee injuries while playing sport?

[injuryupdate]

Squatting puts a lot of load through the patellofemoral joint in particular, and it all depends on whether the knee can handle the high load.

For a 'normal' knee with a moderately high or lower load, squatting will strengthen the quads muscles and not harm the knee. If the knee is already injured though, the load of a squat exercise might be beyond what the joint can cope with.