STAND BETTER - kNEES (and FEET!)

See if you can make your feet point straight forward.
For this, align the outside edges of your feet. You can use the edge of a mat or rug.

Feet turned out

Feet straight

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Now check your knees.
​Are they pointing inwards now?
That's quite normal!

Aligning your feet reveals the internal rotation of your upper leg, which is why your knees are no longer pointing forward now you've aligned your feet.

To be sure, check the back of your knees - the two blue lines in the photos below represent the tendons of the internal hamstring (semitendinosus) and external hamstring (biceps femoris).

Internally rotated upper leg bones (femurs), my right hip being more internally rotated than my left

To externally rotate your legs, shift your weight to the outside edges of your feet, letting your arch and big toe lift. Do not force the foot back down at this stage. Simply notice and work on your hip rotation and notice your blind spots.

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 Where to go from there?

1) Make your feet point a little straighter.

2) Add a tad of leg hip rotation to your calf stretch and to your standing, to gradually bring your leg back into alignment and your muscles back where they belong. More tips to come on this soon...

3) Watch your knees when going up and down steps and stairs.
Are your feet pointing forward?
Are your knees pointing forward?
Every time you stop your knee from falling in, you will be using your lateral hip muscles, which need strengthening in the vast majority of us. 

4) Check if you're holding tension in the front of your thighs. See if you can release your knee caps and therefore relax your quadriceps at will.

5) Work on improving the mobility of your feet; so you can bring the forefoot down after having externally rotated your upper leg, and not the whole of your foot, which takes the knee back to where it was before!

To restore the mobility of your feet, start by waking up your toes, see if you can spread them while sitting, squatting and standing. 

See if you can lift just the big toe, keeping the other four toes down.

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See if you can keep the big toe down, and lift the other four up.

It's okay if you can't do it the first time you try! It took me quite a long time to get to this stage! Keep trying!
You'll improve your circulation even if there is little apparent movement, to start with.

Keep stretching/moving/releasing the top of your foot and the bottom of your foot with a ball - at home, at work, on holiday!
It feels great and will work wonders for the mobility of the 33 joints in each of your feet and the health of your soft tissues and nerves!

Think progress (not perfection)!
Enjoy the process!

If you want to learn more, you would benefit from my Improve your knees and Improve your feet series of videos in the Virtual Treatment Room.