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If you have knees that cave in (a condition known as knee valgus) then you are going to want to watch this video. Whether your knock knees are present only during the bottom portion of a squat or are there all the time, you are going to want to fix them since leaving them alone is going to eventually wreak havoc on your body.
The condition known as knee valgus refers to the inward pointing of the knees. This creates stress on the inside of the knee joint in the form of tensile gapping of the medial collateral ligament, and compression forces and stress on the outside of the joint. Because of the altered position of the knee joint, your movement is affected and the repercussions are often felt higher or lower in the body; namely in the ankles, hips or back.
It is important to understand that the knee joint itself is a consequential joint. That means, that it is simply a hinge joint that is at the mercy of what is going on at the ankle below and the hip above. If the mobility or strength of the ankle is altered then the knee is going to be affected by the impact these changes have on the tibia (the lower half of the knee joint). If the hips are too tight or lacking the strength required to stabilize the femur (the upper half of the knee joint) then you are going to have problems at the knee as well.
In this video, I show you how to ascertain whether you have issues in the ankle that you want to address. As you will see, the ankle is also affected by what happens at the foot. When you have flat feet or over pronated feet, the joints above are dramatically affected. It is important to understand the causes and the effects of flat feet in order to be able to intervene and do something about it so the normal knee motion and mechanics can be restored.
Most of the time, flat feet will cause the ankle to cave inward and this drags the tibia along with it. The stress is immediately transmitted up to the knees in the form of a valgus. The peroneal muscles on the outside of the lower leg get adaptively shortened and tight from being in this position too long. They are not the cause of the pronation however. Their tightness is simply the result of the pronation so you want to make sure you strengthen these muscles as well.
The muscles of the ankle that act as a stirrup that supports the joint are the peroneals and the posterior tibialis muscle. Both of these can be strengthened with the exercises for your ankle shown here with just a single band. Of course, you will want to stretch the peroneals as well and address the soft tissue changes that have caused tightness as shown with the two drills in the video.
As for the hip, weakness of the external rotators and abductors is almost always the cause of troubles at the knee. Why is this? Because no matter how many squats we do, we are simply not addressing the rotation at the hip without paying attention to some of the smaller exercises that often get overlooked. This is critical. Here I show you an exercise to strengthen both the abductors of the hip without any equipment and an exercise for your hip rotators that requires just a band.
Either of these can be done just a few times a week and you will see a dramatic improvement in the condition of your knee valgus. When you combine the drills for both the ankle and the hip together, watch as your knee positioning corrects itself and you start moving better than you ever have before. Your strength should improve as well since your body will finally be operating out of its desired alignment.
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49 comments
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so Jessie has every type of problem 😀
How can we target the "love handles" lower side back area
Oh well all the squats i did was a waste of my life
9:27
the anime teen legs
It's so informative
extremely good video. im not the biggest fan of athlean x because he has so many uploads that are so specific and i like to keep things really simple.
but he is completely right.
drop the weight. use a narrower stance. strengthen the hips using the leg spreader machine. perhaps do front squats to help wake up your quads in your squat as well as the leg extension machine.
Make one for bowed legs
This happened to me while deadlifting. Is that normal? 😬
i have it due the higher weight and height, nobody told me when i was children..
aren't weak hip muscles, and not having enough hip muscle activation two different things ?
What da dog doin ???
what to do of the external knee vulgus. the knees flare out
This poor subject of yours, Jesse, has every problem under the sun. This, anterior pelvic flex, or whatever… 😅
Just awesome!
I just wanted to express some genuine gratitude for this video and the information presented; I know you benefit from monetization (probably) but this is some "good deed" product to humanity–be proud!!
Zion Williamson sweating really hard
Can you please make a video for bowed knees (Caved out)? My dad has been suffering from this forever and a video like this would be great for that
Adam Collard from Love Island needs to see this video so badly. Look up his legs to see what not to do
BTW this is a bone deformity. If you are done growing, this will not help much, if at all.
Aka Chinese legs 😂
Anime girls need this video asap
horse riding or an activity as simple as bike riding can help with knock knees
I saw a dog pop in view and had to like
I learned so much! Thank you Great teacher! from Japan!
My right knee has valgus, do I have to do those exercises on both legs?
what da dog doin
Glad to have you on youTube
Seems boxers often has knock knees and look awkward when running but perfectly fine moving in boxing stance. Maybe it's even a benefit to have knock knees as a boxer if it helps to push the body sideways more efficient when moving towards/away from opponent. Tyson Fury and Roy Jones have severe knock knees but excellent footwork. Mike Tyson also has Knock knees but not quite as severe. In soccer it's the other way around it seems. Players with knees wide apart are able to easily get their feet in crossed leg positions not otherwise possible, for example while doing the Rabona kick.
NICE <3
gosh i hate my knees sm. make my legs look so bad
Jeff, I had some severe inner knee pain come from out of the blue a few days ago. Totally debilitating. I've purchased a couple of Athlean-X programs over the years, so I often watch your corrective videos too. Doing these stretches and correctives immediately started bringing relief to that inner knee pain. It got me thinking, if you ever considered putting together an entire program of correctives that is a SKU I would buy.
I've had this problem for almost a year but didn't know what it was called. Thank you so much Jeff and Jessie
This is an amazing explanation. As a trainer it is frustrating to only hear cues around the gym such as "drive out at the knee" when there are dozens of other factors as explained in this video. Often the cause of an issue is complex and needs to be approached at all angles. And this video is very helpful to solve this particular issue! Passing along to a client now who has struggled with this so we can implement together.
i actually thought the reason i had knuck knees was because of weak hip rotators
Excellent
Whatt???? I must fix that?? I've had these since being born. I have knee pains though and I'm 17
I was born with inward knees, doctor said it's permanent and there's no fix to this when I was a kid. Wish they could see me now how impossible become I'm-possible.
3-4 sets, still having trouble in understanding how many should I do it.. Until my muscles fatigue or what.. I want to fix this more than anything. Then I can stop acting like a drunken fool on the streets and walk normally. It's not that serious, but, when it happens. It's awkward.
i liove u
What kind of bands are those? Can you provide the link Jeff
Can anyone answer this? Do knock knees make you shorter? And if so, will fixing them make you taller??
Beautifully explains why my knees always looked weird which caved in.. I thought it was genitics.. But also I don't have this before.. Thank you 🙏Jeff.. Il work on it with your suggested exercises..
I wish he explained the foot band Exercise better
Really interesting and well presented.practical and logical.. biomechanics 101 thanks 👍
At 7:34 does anyone know what type of resistance band this is so I can get one and start doing these exercises/stretches? 😊
Does this work honestly? Because I have knew and back pain because of my knocked knees. Plus I’m tall
My knee has improved in just one day by doing it 4 times
Four doctors enter a race with a price of 10,000 USD: a GP, a good orthopaedist, a bad orthopaedist, and a radiologist. Who wins?
The bad orthopaedist.
Why?
Because:
No-one told the GP.
A radiologist does not race for 10,000 USD.
Good orthopaedists don't exist.
Always, when I watch your videos I have to remember this joke, because I went to orthopaedists for years without results. Then I watched your videos and could diagnose and treat myself successfully. Hope it works again, cause I am in pain (due to something else). As always, I tried an orthopaedist first, but he was not interested in finding a solution. Thanks Internet. Thanks Jeff.