Female Athlete - 8 things all female athletes need to check for prevention of knee issues
There are several things as a former athlete I wish I was told the WHY behind before I learned the hard way.
I wish someone had told and shown me how to perform an appropriate plank with appropriate leg lower and pelvic alignment.
I wish someone had told me WHY plyometrics were so important.
I wish someone had told me how to make my back, knees and ankles stronger.
I wish someone had told me that protein is often needed beyond just what you eat (especially as a high school and collegiate athlete).
I wish someone had taught me the importance of breathing.
I wish someone had encouraged me to not be ashamed of my monthly cycle and how it gave me immense insight on my overall health.
I wish someone had created a more speific program for me to prevent a stress fracture in my SPINE.
BUT enough about me….
Let’s talk about you…lets talk about 8 things specifically today that I see all the time in my female athletes that YOU need to know and notice to make you a stronger person.
How do your feet move?
Learning to work on arch strength and mobility through a stiff foot are huge. Sometimes shoes and inserts make a big difference and sometimes it’s awareness of the kinetic chain. If the foot is super stiff - the pressure moves then to the knee -hip-spine. If the foot is more flat, the knee will rotate in and create other issues like IT Band pain, knee pain, hip pain and shin splints.
Flexibility vs Hyermobility
When our joints are a little more flexible or we have a joint that is hypermobile (a joint moves beyond the normal range of motion due to more flexible ligaments), we have to depend on muscle control to maintain that joint integrity. When muscles are “tight,” it is often due to these muscles compensating or working harder than they are strong enough to do currently or because they’re used more often in a compensatory manner. This also will create pain over time and more injuries.
We all want nice legs…
But we want more proportional posterior (hamstring, calf and glute) strength to help our knees and assist our ligaments. We need to watch the direction our knees go - keep them from rotating in or past your toes too far with squatting or jumping.
Jump off a Step…
If your knees rotate inwards - it usually means the hip muscle of the upper femur or the foot are not controlling the limb as well. This predisposes the medial knee to be over stretched and strained. This can lead to MCL, ACL, and even ITB issues due to improper patellar tracking.
Strength training for the hips is needed…(see below) balance too!
Same concept as #4…
Stepping down is a more controlled weight acceptance of the foot but still can show how well you can control your leg under load. Can you perform a heel tap without your knee rotating inwards or hip popping to the side or upwards?
Supine Leg Raise
Lay on your back and without arching your low back or creating a doming in the front of the abdominal muscles, can you do a straight leg raise without much effort?
Try breathing and exhale on the drop and see if you have more control…if not - Odds are your need to strengthen your deep core and work on core stability.
Are you symmetric?
Most of my athletes have a strong leg and a flexible leg based on sport - We want this to be more symmetric in strength and endurance to prevent knee issues.Try to hop on your Right foot and compare that the the Left foot. If there is a bigger difference with control, strength, endurance and coordination - we need to find a way to level that out.
Squat - Drop it like it’s hot…
Looking at all the pieces of the body as stated gives us an idea of where your issues may be. If you can’t keep your heels down - it may be calf or ankle mobility. If your back arches, odds are its flexibility of upper back or core weakness. Do you “butt wink?” That’s when you drop into a squat but your booty goes from a good neutral arch to flexed and rounded. Need help figuring out what you do? Schedule with us to do a squat assessment.
Rehab vs Prevention?
As a former collegiate Volleyball player, I have felt and found that stabilizing the core and hips makes a huge difference in PREVENTION and INJURY REHAB.
If you are not AWARE of what your body is doing and your Coach is not addressing this…find a trainer or therapist who can assess your (your Child’s) individual movement patterns. Our body is really good at cheating and often allows us for YEARS to do so until one day…we get an injury. Don’t let that be you.