How Your Glutes Help Your Knee And Ankle Health
Your gluteal muscles in the hip area play a tremendous role in the stability of your entire lower limb. Considering this vital role it is even more problematic that, for many of us, these muscles are somewhat unused. Prolonged sitting and ever decreasing levels of daily activity as we go through life lead to wasting. When we then consider as we age the increasing occurrence of knee and ankle trouble it is hard not to make a link.
Understanding the stresses that go through the lower limb and the ways in which it “likes” to fail helps us appreciate the important role of the glute muscles or hip muscles in general. Due to the anatomical structure, our knees will typically drive towards the middle, for example when getting up from seated, or going up the stairs. At the same time, the arches of our feet often collapse in. Is it any wonder we end up with knee and ankle trouble?
As you start to understand that this chain of events, is directly opposed by your hip and gluteal musculature, a very obvious and simple solution begins to arise.
Work your gluteals, either through thoughtful repetitions, focussing on keeping the hip region and gluteals engaged. Better yet, if this area is weak for you, use glute bands to help activate and train these particular muscles preferentially.
