Your Knee as a Hinge

To write about learning about your body without giving you something to chew on just did not seem right. In most text books on Anatomy, Physiology and Kinesiology the knee as a joint is described as a hinge. Hinges in general are designed to swing in one plane or direction of movement without twisting(not getting fancy here). So with that in mind your knee is was really designed to track straight forward and back. The bones involved in this hinge are your femur and your tibial plateau (the top of your tibia where the femur rides). These two bones have lubricated surfaces that are incredibly slippery. They also have bumps and groves in them that are specific to alignment of the Tibia with the Femur(I am taking for granted that you all know how to use google). In 30+ years of exercising in one way or another I have found that most people’s tib/fib to be short do not align properly with each other. There is internal rotation of or external rotation (pigeon toe which has nothing to do with toes, or duck walking which ducks are really upset about) are great examples as long as you are looking at the twist coming from the shin bone(tibia). Now here is the fun part. In the past 20+ years of personal training (very different from other personal trainers I actually make it personal by analysing human movement patterns prior to giving people great workouts, corrective exercise???) I have found that most, let’s say 90+ percent of my clients move poorly due to a lack of understanding and attention or poor muscle development( muscles are not helping the bones get to the right alignment before movement even occurs). Yep you are a pigeon toed or a duck walking person and most of the time it is your own fault and will lead to the advanced destruction of your knees at a young age.