How do you correct toe-ing out, or knock knee running, where your feet angle out to the sides (like duck feet). What muscle is weak causing this? I’m referring to running where your foot swings out to the side when its lifted during running as well as when it comes back down on impact.
I was listening to an interview with running coach, Bobby McGee, here:
He was talking about, or suggesting it possible, to change running mechanics. He suggested that by and large he could look at kids playing in a soccer field and that the ones who were more bow-legged would be faster than the ones who ran swinging their legs out (out-in, or open) because they landed more straight. He seemed to suggest this could be corrected or reduced, but doesn’t say how.
I know there are many runners who run slightly knock kneed and toe-out but just curious, are their exercises or strength training or drill techniques which address this?. I’m guessing it might have to do with weak gluteus medius muscle, not sure though. Or maybe its something which is just not capable of changing.
Just concciously trying to straighten the foot on landing, and keep the toe-in when you lift it from your heel, is hard to do for an extended period of time.
I don’t have an answer for you, but I do have a question. Why do you feel you need to correct this? Is it causing you pain, injury, or…? Or are you just looking for increased speed?
Drop down into a lunge position, one knee on the ground, one knee up, like you’re about to pop the question. Then slide the front foot forward, keeping the knee over the heel. You should start to feel a stretch in the front of the hip of the foot thats back.
How much of a stretch are you getting? Is it hard to do? Painful? or can you go really deep without much discomfort? Compare both sides…
Do you think this is from tight front hip flexors?
I’ll do this tonight.
To answer the question before, I think, for those of us who run this way, its an annoyance, especially if you have seen yourself run, like Donald Duck: and there probably is some efficiency problems with it, but not at my pace. I think we may, when we run marathons, run 29 miles, not 26.2.
I KNOW there are countless examples of runners who run out like that, swing their legs out, and are quite fast. But if its a muscle fix, then why not fix it.
I wonder if its hamstring weakness, because when we stand in front of a mirror and try to lift the heel up perfectly up the leg on heel lift, keeping both feet pointing perfectly straight ahead, to keep the toe from drifting out to the right (right leg, e.g), you will feel your hamstring having to do some work to get that done.
Shoot, I don’t know. I’ve asked about this here before a few years ago, and the Bobby McGee interview got me on it again. Interestingly, when I researched this before, the best google information came from gymnastic coaches and ballarina coaches who think being knock-knee is a plague, one of whom, thinks holding a Yoga Warrior Pose for hours works.
depends upon MANY factors (like whether your “duck footedness” is from true genu valgum, lack of tibial torsion, metatarsus adductus, etc.). Can be magnified by a weak tibialis posterior muscle (unlikely) or “excessive” or more correctly rate of pronation at the subtalar joint.
Normal angle of gait for adults though is up to 15 degrees abducted.
It has to do with efficiency. Some folks move efficiently with toes in and some with toes out. What’s important is the fluidity of movement and the torque forces at the knee and hip. If you’re able to run high mileage without hip/knee/ankle/foot pain, then correction is probably unnecessary. Where the problems arise is in either extreme cases where pronation, supination, adduction, etc., causes torque forces to bear on delicate soft tissue (like knee cartilege and meniscus which is obviously not good) or unilateral situations. Often, especially for older runners like myself who have a long history of injuries, a tight hip or an accumulation of scar tissue in the foot or ankle can cause one foot to toe out while running. This is usually going to be accompanied by a compensatory change to the stride movement and in time will probably manifest as problems (pain) somewhere in the kinetic chain.
In that case, the problem can’t be fixed by simply willing yourself to run differently, it requires a good podiatris, chiropractor, PT…