Do you have weak knee's that drop inwards when you bend?
Throughout the body there are a few muscular areas that are very commonly weak. These include the knee's and in particular the inner thighs. A quick test to see if your knees are weak is to do a squat. Do your knee's drop inwards compared to staying in a straight line? (See the image below). Ideally when you bend your knee's or squat, the knee caps should stay facing forwards and in a straight line. For most people the knee's and supporting muscles are not strong enough and the knee's bow 'inwards'.
How do I strengthen my knee's?
Strengthening weak muscles is very important. For example if the inner thighs are weak, other muscles must over compensate for this weakness, which creates strain on surrounding joints and asymmetry between the two legs. Try these simple exercises to strengthen the inner thighs to support the knee's.
Exercise 1
The first exercise requires a ball, about the size of a netball that is slightly soft. These can easily be bought from the $2 shop. Whilst lying on your back, with knee's bent + approximately shoulder width apart and feet flat on the floor, place the ball between your knee's. The aim of the exercise is to strengthen your inner thighs. To do the exercise, squeeze the ball with your knee's. You can vary this exercise by doing rhythmic squeezes/pulses of the ball or squeezing the ball tight for 10-30 seconds then relaxing and repeating. Another way of doing this exercise is to do a squat against the wall. Back against the wall, ball between your knee's and again either repetitions of squeezing the ball or squeeze the ball for 10-30 seconds and repeat.
Exercise 2
A second exercise is the pilates 'clam'. To do this exercise, lie on your side, knee's bent together. Again to target the inner thigh, open your knee's apart. I advise my patients to place a hand on the top hip and to make sure the top hip remain in its original position. If you open the knee's too wide the lower spine begins to rotate and other muscles begin to activate. This exercise also targets the Gluteal muscles which are commonly very weak. Make sure you roll over and repeat this exercise lying on the opposite side.
Always consult a health professional for advice