Knock Knees

[rickwhitelaw]

I think I just diagnosed myself as having knock knees. It could be a source of my knee problems. This definition is from http://www.livestrong.com/article/127712-exercises-correct-knock-knees/ "

Knock knees is a term used to describe an inward angle of the thighs when a squat is performed or while standing in a neutral position. This is caused from weak abductor muscles, which are found on the outsides of the hips and thighs. To correct this problem, do abductor-strengthening exercises. The muscles involved with abduction are the gluteus maximus, gluteus medius, gluteus minimus and tensor fascia lata."​

20 years of telemark skiing probably contributed to this condition. (the pics are not me, I just wanted to find photos of the inward angle of the knee)

To make a telemark turn there has to be a lot of inward knee angle and you have to keep your upper legs tight against each other.​

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Also, I do a lot of cross country skiing. To generate power when skating, you have to push off with your inside edge. I have given myself a muscle imbalance by doing this.​

So now that I know the problem, the next step is to strengthen my abductor muscles to try to align my knees better.​

Does anyone else have this condition and have you done things to improve it?​

Rick W.​

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[Barefoot TJ]

That makes sense to me. If you're skiing a lot, I can see how that could "train" your knees to go inwards.

 

[DNEchris]

Does anyone else have this condition and have you done things to improve it?

Try Classic skiing! (at least some of the time) - it worked for me when I'd get aches during my 10 year XC ski teaching career. I guess it works like cross-training.

 

[rickwhitelaw]

I do prefer the Classic style. Every trail in our local ski area gets trashed by snowmobiles, so I was doing a lot of hiking up the ski slopes. Traversing and sidestepping and "herringbone style". I just love how light cross country gear is. If I switch to my telemark gear I can put climbing skins on and keep my skis straight. The season is almost over, so I can think about all of this for next year. On a side note, I was a minimalist skier long before a minimalist runner. Maybe that is why comments from the regular skiers or now runners don't bother me. Being the only skier in leather boots at a ski resort is similar to being the only barefoot runner in a race.

 

[DNEchris]

Leather boots are my preferred tool for touring, as long as I'm on long skis. I can't make 'em work with my current short, fat skis. Still get 'fried thigh' if I do a lot of Telemarking without a break - parallel turns count as a break

I'd still rather be on my RCS than Tele skis though!