The "clam" exercise depicted in the attached video is a great way to strengthen your hip external rotators. Many of the common movement faults seen with injured runners entail excessive internal rotation. By strengthening the muscles that oppose this internal rotation, namely the external rotators, you start to see the value in this exercise. This concept is at the cornerstone of running sports medicince today: when you have a strong hips, you have happy knees. A strong hip give a runner better control of how the leg is moving, thereby minimizing the abnormal stressors crossing the knee.
The "clam" exercise is performed in a sidelying position with knees and hips flexed as shown. Brace your abdominal muscles and slowly raise the top knee against the resistance of the band. Pause at the top of the motion and then slowly and smoothly lower down. The top knee should lift up without the pelvis moving. At the start, the pelvis is perpendicular to the floor. This position should be consistent throughout the exercise. As muscles fatigue, there is a greater tendancy to use the trunk muscles versus the hip muslces to lift the leg. This will be evident by the pelvis rocking backward leading the leg. Repeat the up and down 10+ times focusing on control and apropriate movement patterns.
No comments:
Post a Comment