Leg Joints

When you think about it, our leg joints; hips, knees and ankles, cop some serious punishment throughout our lives.  When most people exercise their legs, they don’t do it with the intention of strengthening the joints; they are thinking more about the size and shape of the quads or calf muscles.  I can guarantee though that when those joints are not in the best condition, you will know about it.

As I have stated previously, the aim of effective weight training is not simply to build muscle, it is to build balanced muscle.  This approach will create a solid, yet supple, latticework of muscle that will support the joints, keeping them intact and protected from injury.  So you can understand the importance of joint integrity and the negative impact damaged joints can have on your health, let’s look at what the major joints of the leg actually do.

Hips

The hip joints connect the upper leg bones to the pelvis, which is literally the pivotal structure in our body.  When we swing a bat, throw or block a punch and execute a kick, we generate most of the power from the hips.  The muscles that cross over the hip joint are very strong to begin with but they can become very tight.  That tightness can manifest itself in a whole range of pelvic and lumbar spine disorders if the muscles are not strengthened or, more importantly, stretched.

Knees

Knees seem to be the most fragile of all the joints in the body.  We regularly blow them out doing squats incorrectly, tear ligaments and tendons playing football; the list of injuries and their causes is a mile long.  On the lower body, it seems like the knees are taking all of the punishment when we take up a physical activity.  They have to be able to cope with the impact of our own body weight, the pressure of starting, stopping and changing direction and in many activities, especially competitive sports like netball and football, and being hit.

When you are focussing on strengthening the knee, you should emphasise strengthening the muscles around the knee, i.e. quadriceps, and hamstrings.  The stronger the surrounding muscles are, the more they will be able to act as shock absorbers and protect the integrity of the knee.

Ankles

The ankles are seriously damaged almost as frequently as the knees.  The ankle joint is a delicate but pivotal area due to the number of bones involved in the joint, the range of movement available and the relatively small size of the surrounding muscle structures.

The ankle is the centre of power in terms of your speed and mobility as well as your balance.  Many of the problems associated with the ankle, we bring on ourselves.  Wearing the wrong shoes for an activity or putting yourself off balance by using incorrect form or technique are just two of the ways in which we can over-stress this delicate joint.  This does not have to be the norm, there are a number of ways you can develop strength and flexibility in all of your leg joints.

Gait

Contrary to popular belief, we do not learn to walk with a perfect gait and compensatory actions we take as an infant to prevent falling, can develop and stay with us well into adulthood.  Occasionally, hip and knee problems come directly from walking on the outside edge of the foot.  This phenomenon is called Inversion and was touched on briefly in the Anatomy and Physiology section of this book.  If the outer edge of your shoes is the first place to show wear, then it is safe to say that you have some degree of inversion.

Inversion is not a major problem unless you do a lot of running and neglect to stretch the rotator muscles around the hips.  Many athletic shoe manufacturers produce a style of shoe that is constructed to help re-align the foot, at the point of contact and prevent inversion.  It is worth spending a bit more money on a quality shoe to prevent problems developing.

Karate students, unless training outdoors, will normally be required to train barefooted.  This is a perfect opportunity to do some ankle strengthening exercises.  Practise standing on one leg and gently roll your foot from side to side.  This will not only strengthen the ankle joint but help with the flexibility of the joint.  Stand with one hand supporting you against a wall, keep your heels on the floor and lift both feet off the floor as high as you can.  Repeat this action until your shins begin to feel fatigued.  Finally, when kneeling down, keep your feet pointed toward the rear, so that your ankles are stretched along the floor.  In the beginning, this will be very uncomfortable but the discomfort will subside in time.

Now that you have had a good insight into how the body works and the physiology of exercise, it’s time we jumped into the deep end and begin working out.  The next article in this series is all about the three day split.  Check in to find out more.