Image by Getty Images via Daylife
Podcasting is the new buzz of the internet. A Podcast is an mp3 or mp4 file of your post article that may or may not include video. Most of them are just audio files that you can listen to on the web or download for later listening.
Podcasting can [...]
I was listening to NPR News this morning and they had an article on a girls’ soccer team and how they have been plagued with injury — specifically leg injuries and even more specifically, knee injuries. The team trainer discovered or learned that girls going through puberty do not develop muscles the same way boys do and tend to build muscle on the top and front of their legs rather than the backs, which was causing unusual torque when the girls went to kick the ball with that funny sideways kick that soccer players use. He had the team start doing specific exercises that targeted building up the gluteus and gracilius muscles which are the ones that run from your buttocks to the back of your knee.
Since the team has been doing these exercises, they have been injury free, which seems to support his theory on why the girls were getting so many injuries.
As you know, I have osteoarthritis in my knees. I’ve had arthroscopic surgery on both of them to remove the meniscus which was torn in both knees and causing excruciating pain. While “in there”, they scraped out the joint to remove some of the buildup of arthritis, but it’s coming back and repeat surgery is not an option.
The only thing I can have done is to get total knee replacements which is a really big hairy deal kind of surgery that my orthopedist would like for me to put off as long as I possibly can for a multitude of reasons, one of which is that I’m too young.
You also know that I’ve joined a gym and have been trying to go 2-3 times a week. I work out on various strength training machines as well as walk on the treadmill and use the elliptical machine. Lately I’ve also used the recumbent bike as I am now flexible enough that my knees will bend far enough to rotate the pedals without pain.
Several of the machines I’ve been using target these very muscles of the trainer’s study. After hearing this article, I’m fairly certain that part of my knee problems are due to those muscles not being as well developed as those on the front of my thigh even though I’m long past puberty.
Since I’m peri-menopausal due to a complete hysterectomy 15 years ago, my hormone level is probably pretty similar to that of an emerging pubescent female, so it’s not out of the realm of possibility that this would hold true for me. And further, since I’m far from being unique in this state, I thought it worth mentioning to all you other ladies who are in my same condition.
Of course, now that I’ve been working out, and the back thigh muscles are building up, I have true thunder thighs, but maybe as I lose weight, those will become more sculpted and more attractive. As it is now, my clothes are fitting looser everywhere but my thighs where they are tighter. What a conundrum!
ê¿ê
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=a11351e1-00bc-47b6-a6b7-e990189ec5bb)
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
Tags: Arthroscopy, Elliptical trainer, Knee, Muscle, Orthopedic, Puberty, Surgery, Weight training
Post here
September 5th, 2008 at 5:31 am
Exercise bikes are unique in that many of them come programmed with various biking routines. You simulate different courses that require you to sprint, pedal uphill, and perform at different levels within one workout without having to keep pressing buttons and changing everything.You can get more information about Exercise bike which I browsed on internet can fetch you help.
September 7th, 2008 at 10:40 am
Great information. Now that I’m older my knees are the one thing that bother me the most. This is mainly from the stress I put them under during years of basketball. I found that Yoga and Pilates were two of the best things I did for my knees. The toning and strength training involved really have made my legs stronger and my knees are much happier because of it.
Now I make sure my teens work hard to keep their knees in tip-top-shape with a variety of workouts that focus on all of the muscle groups.
Thanks for the information,
Doris
http://www.fitfabandforty.com/
September 27th, 2008 at 9:54 pm
From time to time, take exercises for the leg muscles, like tensing and relaxing the lower and upper thigh muscles. Gear