She had me stand and walk in various backwards skating-like positions until I was able to duplicate the pain. So there I am finally, balancing with the bulk of my weight on the ball of my right foot, with my left foot forward, and the inside of my right knee burning like fire.
"Oh," Rapunzel says, "I see the problem. Your knee is buckling inwards because your hip isn't strong enough." When I balance going backwards, my right hip dips, making my right knee collapse sideways.
I now have exercises to strengthen my gluteus medius.
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| I have to strengthen the little muscle on the right |
My total daily average workout requirement is now an hour and a half--off ice.
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| Much rather be ON ice. |
Yeah, I think a weak glute med is a common problem for skaters. I posted something on this back in February on skatingforums. The good thing is that it does not take long to improve the strength on this muscle. The hard work will be worth it!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the encouragement....I just finished a round of upper body resistance training, now I have to finish with my second(!) round of therapeutic stretching.
DeleteThat's great news that your PT identified something specific that has been causing you problems, and that it can be corrected! I hope you start seeing results from it becoming stronger soon!
ReplyDeleteIs there an easy way for one to figure out if the glut med is weak?
I don't know of any. My PT caught it because my knee wasn't aligned when I was in a single leg squat.
DeleteGenerally speaking, the medial glute tends to be weaker because the gluteus Maximus tends take over because it's a larger, outer muscle. Most people will have this muscle imbalance between the two, and then further emphasize it because exercises for the medial glute are not fun to do. If you're a skater, better start doing them as they come into play for Hip stabilization.
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