LIFESTYLE NEWS - Exercise is one of the ways to improve your physical well-being and it aids in great measure to get rid of ailments, aches and pains.
Follow the exercise programme provided by the biokineticists at Anine van der Westhuizen Biokineticist in George and feel the difference.
Lana Laubscher continues her new series on knee injuries.
Let's look at different types of knee injuries.
The first I'm going to discuss is patella dislocation, or dislocation of the kneecap.
Patella dislocation can occur from indirect injury, from twisting or during rapid change of direction while the foot remains planted, or direct trauma to the patella that forces the patella out of the femoral groove.
The anatomical consideration:
The stability of the patella depends upon two components:
- How deep the groove is in which the patella glides
- Soft tissue structures (muscles, tendons and ligaments)
Dislocations with the kneecap dislocating to the outside of the knee (lateral dislocation) are most common.
This is because the inner thigh muscles are usually weaker than the muscle on the outer thigh.
Dislocations where the kneecap dislocates to the inside of the knee are less common and usually only occur during trauma such as a car accident or a rugby tackle.
The patella wobbles out of its groove when the quadriceps (thigh muscles), tendons and other ligament stabilisers attached to the borders of the kneecap contract forcefully as the knee is rotating, pulling the kneecap out of place.
Re-dislocations occur more frequently in patients younger than 20 and tend to decrease with advancing age.
This is because younger patients are still developing and their soft tissue structures aren't as strong as those of an adult.
Knock knees
Women seem to have a greater risk for patellar dislocations than men. This may be ascribed to the shape of a woman's pelvis (wider to accommodate pregnancy), which tends to cause genu valgum (knock knees) and can result in a greater "Q angle" (see illustration), thus making patellar dislocations more probable.
Many people with knock knees experience general knee pain because of the fact that the kneecap is not gliding in its groove like it is supposed to.
Specific VMO (vastes medialis obliques) and adductor (inner thigh muscles) exercises can definitely improve symptoms of pain and re-align your patella.
Unfortunately it is a structural deformity and cannot be reversed by means of exercise, but you can strengthen your muscles to a degree where they supply more support to the "deformity" and you are pain-free.
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