Knee pain can come from a wide range of sources.
The previous two articles plus this third and final one only address the most common sports-related issues we see that do not require medical attention.
Just as common as the heel strike and rotated landing positions are weakness in the hip muscles that control the knee's movement from side to side.
Think of the muscles on the outside of your hip and the adductor/groin muscles on the inside as two puppet strings.
When a force is is absorbed by your legs, which happens when you run & jump, these muscles must activate with the proper amount of tension to keep the knee from moving laterally.
At younger ages these muscles tend to be strong enough to keep up with the forces applied to them.
Problems come in when someone does too much of a straightforward exercise, like running and jumping, which throws off the balance between muscle groups.
The issue is made worse if you strength train using exercises that only move in a straight line, like squats, deadlifts and forward lunges.
Luckily, this time the solution is simpler!
Train to strengthen the muscles on the inside and outside of your legs.
There are many, many good exercises that can help.
Below, you'll find a short video that shows you two challenging ones that require no equipment at all:
The statistics nationwide show that far too many kids play their sport while managing chronic knee pain.
Sometimes there is very little you can do about it, but lots of other times there is plenty that can be done.
If you or your kid does go through bouts of chronic knee pain, my hope is you now see it is not a totally helpless situation! There are strategies that can be implemented to minimize the issue in the future.
