Do your knees turn in, or twist in, or do your legs whip around when you run like an eggbeater on land? Do you look like you are an equestrian and you don’t ever ride horses?
I call this syndrome horseback rider-itis.
What? *gasp* What is that?
I love tacking -itis onto words to make them sound like an official diagnosis. In this case, the muscles on the insides of the thighs are really strong and tight, and it looks as though you have been riding a horse even when you haven’t.
Never fear, there is a solution!
Grab a stretchy band, scarf, jump rope, or shoelace. It doesn’t need to be fancy, just something long enough to be able to tug on.
Before I learned this technique, I used to band clients up with the band and pull the knee out like the photo above to help them feel the lined up position of the leg.
That got them a certain amount of results, but then I learned about this other idea.
In this case, you notice the direction the knee is going, and with your band PULL THAT KNEE IN EVEN MORE.
So you see a mistake, you make the mistake BIGGER.
In this case, band up the knee, and pull the knee in EVEN FARTHER.
Now you, the person with the funky knee, have to do one of two things:
1. Collapse
2. Use the muscles of the hip to push that knee out so that it is straight again.
My preference is the second option, so pull that knee out using the hip muscles (and can you guess which one is in charge of external rotation? OH YES YOU CAN…Our friend the glute!!)
Now the knee will track correctly, you the athlete will be tapping into a muscle to hold the knee in the correct direction (rather than an external force like a band doing the work for you) and ….
All will be well in the land. 🙂
Watch the quick video below to see me in action using this super easy and fast corrective tool that you can do to yourself- no trainer needed!
Let me know in the comments below if you or someone you know has horseback rider-itis and if this was helpful! Come on over to Instagram and tell me what you think there, too…. @laura.coleman27
