Been running for a long time, however, I am having an injury issue that I caught early. Been diagnosed by an ortho and scheduled to see a PT.
Anyway, it was pointed out to me that my lateral stability is very weak…other words, when my leading foot contacts the ground during the run, my knee wobbles left/right. Not sure if some wobble is normal, but to give you an example, if I do a one legged squat, I have a difficult time balancing and my knee wobbles a lot.
What can be done to strenghten my lateral stability? Will core work around the hips/glutes help this, or do I need to focus somewhere else. I’m sure the PT will help with this, but the appt is a week away. I’d like to get started.
Thanks for any help.
Slide board. Also, look at Rappstar’s posts, he recently posted about a DVD program that looked pretty good (for this very issue).
Hip / glute work, as well as lower leg exercises to strengthen your calf muscles.
I had the same issue as you…if I did a one-legged squat, my knees would both collapse to the isnide as I went down. Led to Achilles and ITBS issues. I have REALLY focused on my hips and glutes the last couple of months and I am finally starting to see improvement (knock wood). My knees are much more stable during a squat and my glutes are stronger than they ever have been.
I also bought a Balance Pad to help with ankle / calf muscle stability.
Been running for a long time, however, I am having an injury issue that I caught early. Been diagnosed by an ortho and scheduled to see a PT.
Anyway, it was pointed out to me that my lateral stability is very weak…other words, when my leading foot contacts the ground during the run, my knee wobbles left/right. Not sure if some wobble is normal, but to give you an example, if I do a one legged squat, I have a difficult time balancing and my knee wobbles a lot.
What can be done to strenghten my lateral stability? Will core work around the hips/glutes help this, or do I need to focus somewhere else. I’m sure the PT will help with this, but the appt is a week away. I’d like to get started.
Thanks for any help.
Wait until you see the PT, you might have asymmetrical imbalance that won’t be helped by doing indiscriminate strengthening. But don’t let the PT just give you core strengthening either, he/she should explain what is weak and what is tight.
I have had both knees rebuilt (ACL, MCL and meniscus tears) and it was caused by weak hips. Agree with other post that wait to see what PT says. Most likely you will be doing lots of hip strengthening exercises (clams, pigeon toe mini squats feet forward and with one leg back, fire hydrants - think about a dog peeing on a fire hydrant, lunges, side to side walk with band around knee, etc.). They work, but be careful with your back. If you are like me, since my knees were garbage and my hips were weak, my back attempted to compensate. I only did the exercises that involved back issues with the PT. Good luck on building stability!
Thanks for the replies.