Clients often ask "what should I do to prevent this injury from occurring again", we look at a variety of factors and encourage you to move well. 

Rehabilitative Exercises 

The Pillar refers to the shoulders, torso and hips, so it is the center of all leg and arm movement. If you want to be a high-functioning athlete, you need a high-functioning pillar. A poor functioning pillar decreases your performance potential and increases your risk of injury.

It allows you to walk, snatch, sprint and move with far less risk for injury and greater power.

Strength Training 

preventing lateral patella tracking

This is a common area of injury in athletes and can include multiple diagnoses such as patella tracking abnormalities, patellar tendinitis, and chondromalacia. The goal of our soft tissue work and taping applications is to restore normal alignment to the joint and to decrease pain and inflammation while doing so. The kinesio tape unloads the tension around the knee, thereby allowing the athlete to perform rehab movements with less pain.

When looking at the knee and patella (knee cap in particular) it is important to remember that the tendon starts above the knee where the individual quad muscles end (there are four quad muscles). This tendon then travels from the end of the femur, over the joint line, and inserts onto the tibial tubercle. The knee cap itself sits in the tendon with no direct attachment to those bones. All three bones are lined with cartilage to prevent breakdown and damage to the knee cap. On either side of the knee cap, the tendon is attached to fibrous bands called the retinaculum; which help keep the knee cap from moving too far from side to side. Together, these attachments all help the patella remain in its groove as the knee bends and straightens. It is also why this is such a common spot for injury. In the presence of muscle imbalances or soft tissue restrictions, the knee cap can be pulled out of alignment and inflammation/injury can occur. In the case of a knee cap that is tracking (or being pulled to) the outside, it can cause pain along the inside of the patella or on the outside just above the knee cap

Leg Extension
Equipment used: leg extension machine
Muscles worked: vastus medialis oblique and quadriceps

You will need a leg extension machine to do this move. However, you will modify the movement instead of using it as it is. The way it is commonly used in the gym puts too much pressure on the knee joint. This exercise takes the first exercise “VMO floor extension” to a whole new level with added weight.

You will need a leg extension machine to do this move. However, you will modify the movement instead of using it as it is. The way it is commonly used in the gym puts too much pressure on the knee joint. This exercise takes the first exercise “VMO floor extension” to a whole new level with added weight.

Adjust the seat so the lower leg pad sits on your ankle. Make sure your knees form a 90-degree angle. Pick an appropriate weight (you will be performing this exercise with both legs), squeeze your core tight, and hold onto the handles if you need to.

Exhale and in one motion swing, the leg pad all the way up until your legs are fully extended out in front of you.

Inhale, contract your quadriceps, and lower the leg pad down only 30 degrees. Lowering the pad down by 30 degrees really forces your VMOs to contract. You should at least see both of your VMOs sticking out contracting or at least feel it with your hand.

Perform 15 repetitions for 3 to 4 sets. Adjust the weight accordingly as you get stronger, but remember to keep that 30-degree angle only when performing knee rehab.

Variations: You can perform a single leg extension instead of using both legs. You can also switch up your foot placement: Instead of forming a diamond shape with your feet facing in, perform this exercise with both feet facing out or pointed straight. All these variations will help improve your knee stability and strengthen your VMO from every angle.

The Nordic Hamstring Exercise (NHE), or Nordic Curl, is an eccentric exercise designed to strengthen the hamstrings and prevent injury during sprinting. Muscles generally operate in two fundamental directions: they can shorten, like your bicep when flexing your elbow, and they can lengthen, such as the bicep when extending your elbow.

When our muscles work to produce an action, they must contract, and this usually involves shortening of the muscle — a process called “concentric contraction” — think of making your bicep bigger. However, it is also possible that a muscle tries to contract, but is overcome by competing forces and continues to lengthen — a process called “eccentric contraction”.

Our hamstrings help our bodies move into hip extension and knee flexion. During walking and jogging, since we are not at the extremes of hip or knee motion, our hamstrings are relatively untaxed.

Research shows inadequate eccentric hamstring strength is linked to an increased risk of hamstring injury during high-speed running. So all the more important to address this potential source of injury.

Hammer, Warren. (2007). Functional Soft-Tissue Examination and Treatment by Manual Methods, 3rd edition. Jones and Bartlett Publishers, Inc, Sudbury, MA.

Houglum, Peggy A. (2005). Therapeutic Exercise for Musculoskeletal Injuries, 2nd edition. Human Kinetics, Champaign, IL.