by Kennet Waale
When my good friend Kennet Waale offered to provide content for my blog while I was recovering from surgery, I jumped at the opportunity. Here are the delightfully educational fruits of his labor. If nothing else, be sure to watch the videos linked below for Ken's sexy Aussie accent. Heck, you might even learn something along the way. I know I did! Take it away, Ken.
The aim
of this post is to provide you with five powerful tips on how you can
improve your knee health and stay sane while enjoying your running, cycling,
squatting, and sex.
The
majority of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries occur with an anterior
migration of the femur relative to the tibia coupled with excess rotation.
The posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) is less prone to injury, with the opposite mechanism of that of the ACL.
ACL
injuries are often non-contact and are seen when planting your foot where your foot and shin bone
are standing still while the femur (politely) decides to keep moving.
Due to
the shear fact that it might bore you, I will not outline in detail the
typical mechanisms, but you can read more about them in THIS STUDY and find more clinically relevant information HERE.
5 Things You Must Do To Keep Your Knees Healthy
Even
though there is never a 100% guarantee that injuries will not happen, practicing the basics below will serve as a very good start to decreasing the
likelihood of injury while improving your performance. The tips are all equally important, nevermind the 1-5 ranking.
1. Strong Hips
Getting
a strong ass is vital to ensure optimal positioning of the femur relative to
the tibia for strong abduction, external rotation, and prevention of valgus (knock-knee) movements. If your
hips are strong, you will be able to more efficiently and effectively control movements
during landing and loading. Taking the study above further, we must create
strong extension, external rotation, and abduction patterns to ensure healthy
knees. With this also comes strong, controlled patterns in flexion, internal rotation, and
adduction. Seems obvious, yet it is vital!
2 Favourite Exercises To Get Stronger Hips:
(Editor's Note: for more ideas on knee injury reduction through posterior chain training, check out THIS previous blog post of mine.)
2. A Strong
Midsection
Strong
and well-functioning hips depend on a well-rounded midsection. "Core"
training goes hand in hand with developing strong hips and is
absolutely critical to ensuring optimal function under load. Remember to always
train anti-extension; anti-flexion and anti-rotation as well as their
oppositions: extension, flexion, and rotation. Creating movement is important, but controlling unwanted
movement is often even more important.
2 Favourite Exercises To Build A Strong Midsection:
2) Rack
Carries
(Editor's Note: Kennet has actually written extensively about his thoughts on core training for my blog before! See HERE.)
3. Mobility
Despite
the fact that mobility is slowly becoming a "fad" these days -- and to
some might even seem more important than developing strength and athleticism -- it
should not be thrown out of the window. Mobility and flexibility are both
important concepts in improving performance. Adequate levels of both are needed
in order to ensure the ability to go through the required ranges of motion in a
controlled and safe manner. Hip as well as knee and ankle mobility are all
important. So is thoracic mobility.
My ALL TIME Favourite Sequences To Build Mobility:
1) Hip
Mobility
(Editor's Note: For more no-nonsense ideas on mobility, watch/listen to my podcast with Matt Ibrahim of Mobility 101.)
4. Work Capacity
It is
interesting to note how many injuries, in particular non-contact injuries, occur when the body is tired. Coordination, reaction time, game awareness, and much more all decrease as we are approaching fatigue during a game or set
of activities. Strength, power, coordination, and all other performance measures
mean little if you are not able to sustain it over time.
2 Favourite Exercises To Build Work Capacity:
1) Reverse Sled Drags (for time)
2) Low Box Step-ups (for time)
5. Foundational
Strength
We can
do as much "rehab" work as we want, but at one point in time we must
start to develop higher levels of strength and get the baseline strength up to
par. A weak individual will end up in a higher number of less-than-optimal
positions versus an individual who is a lot stronger.
As an example, we know
that those who have an unfavourable hamstring-quadriceps ratio will have a
greater likelihood of hamstring and knee injuries. The "normal" ratio
is between 50-80%, meaning that your hamstrings are on a general level weaker
than your quadriceps (1). This is a valid takeaway message, especially if you
are a female participating in sports, as we know that this ratio is lower in
women (2). It is obvious, then, that strength is an important factor in balancing
this equation.
2 Favourite Exercises To Build Strong Hamstrings:
1) Deadlifts
(Editor's Note: I just so happen to have an entire blog post about introducing the deadlift. Read it HERE.)
"I Pity The Fool"
I Pity The Fool that does not train his ass properly!
Building
bulletproof and healthy knees relies on various factors with one of the main
factors being hip function. Making sure that acceleration through extension, abduction, and external rotation is very important. However, making
sure that you also know how to control the deceleration of these movements is also important. For the midsection, that means controlling
movement through anti-extension, anti-flexion, and anti-rotation. Finally, the importance of mobility, work capacity, and foundational strength cannot be overemphasized.
Happy knee injury-free training!
References
(1) Journal of
Athletic Training: Isokinetic Hamstrings: Quadriceps Ratios in Intercollegiate
Athletes
2) Journal of the
Nigeria Society of Physiotherapy; Hamstring and Quadriceps Strength Ratio:
Effect of Age and Gender; Jaiyesimi A. O., et al.
About The Author
Through workshops and seminars, he raises the standards
amongst the professionals in the fitness industry -- bridging the gap between
therapy and training. Other than travelling the world having fun, he pays
particular interest in helping people relieve pain while getting stronger and
moving better.
You can follow him on Twitter and Facebook by clicking the links
below:
