Quick Fit with Cassy

- Hello there, welcome to another Quick Fit class with me, Cassy Vieth.

Today's focus is on a common problem of the knee called knee valgus, where the knees come closer together instead of tracking between the hip and the ankle.

You may think this problem is a knee issue because that's what you see and where the pain is.

Join me now to learn more and take action to improve this malalignment of the leg.

[upbeat music] Have a chair handy and a band, and we'll begin first with a few stretches.

Let's do a hamstring stretch.

Put your right leg behind you just a little bit, not too far, and sit back on that leg.

Let that back leg bend at the knee.

Front leg is straight.

This can be a little confusing at first.

Now some of you who have the knee valgus issue may not even be aware of it.

Maybe the knee caves in only when you're walking or squatting down.

Sometimes, it's only on one leg.

Today we're going to work on the muscles of the hips and the ankle because when they're weak, they allow for the knee to cave in.

Deep breath in, [inhales] and sitting it back, stretching that leg that's in the front.

Make sure you're arching your spine as opposed to rounding it, okay?

Good job, now let's use the chair.

We're actually going to turn away from the seat, from the chair, and put the top of your foot and your ankle on there.

Let's stretch your quadriceps.

So I'd like you to press the top of your foot into the seat and squeeze your hind end.

So press, and you should feel it from your front of your hip down to your knee.

Good.

Release that, we'll do it again.

[inhales] And press it down, squeeze your hind end, slight shifting forward from the hips.

All right, let's switch legs.

Ready and press, squeeze the bum.

[inhales] Sit up nice and tall though.

And release.

And we'll do it one more time.

Squeeze the bottom, press the foot down, five, four, three, two, and release.

Turn and face the chair.

We'll put your right leg up on top of the seat.

And first thing I'd like you to do, is I'd like you to rotate your leg so that your toes move across your body.

Stand up nice and tall, and then twist through the torso at the same time.

Okay, you might not get much movement.

We're trying to stretch the hamstring that's on the outside of the leg, the outer hamstring, okay?

Now let's lunge down over the top of the seat, stretching the big muscles that are on the inside of your leg that tend to get tight and pull the knees together.

Stand back up.

[inhales] Going for that hamstring that's on the outer of the leg.

Rotate the leg.

Rotate the torso the other way.

Big breath in and out.

Make sure that foot stays flexed and rotated, and come out of that.

Hop back so you can lower the hips down, stretching your inner thigh and your quads, and then we'll switch legs.

All right, other leg comes up, get stable, and rotate.

Arms out.

And twist.

[exhales] Come halfway out if it's tight, breathe in.

[inhales] Exhale.

[exhales] Good.

And lunge over the top of the chair, let the hips drop down.

And come back up.

Rotate, extend the arms, and twist.

Good.

Come out of that and face forward.

Draw your left leg to the back.

Nice, straight leg.

Press that heel down.

[inhales] Maybe get that front leg a little bit more in front of you.

You wanna open this hip, extend that arm up.

Good, and rotate through the torso.

You're squeezing your bottom, pushing those hips forward, and a little tip if you've got more room to move yet.

Good, and come out.

We'll do the other leg.

[inhales] Big breath in, [exhales] let it out.

Press that heel to the floor.

Make sure your back knee is straight.

Your back heel is down.

Lift that arm, squeeze your bottom, which will push the hips slightly forward.

Rotate through the torso.

[exhales] And a little tip.

Good job.

Come out of that, let's stretch your calves.

So draw your right leg back and let's press that heel down.

Good job.

And bend that back knee.

There's two big calf muscles back there and one of them goes up behind the knee, so bending the knee while we're letting it go forward past the toes a little bit gets that.

And switch legs.

Drag that leg back, press that heel down.

For this one, the knee is straight.

Big breath in.

[inhales] Let it out.

All right, now adjust so you can get a little bend in that back knee.

Breathe in [inhales] and out, [exhales] helping those muscles stretch.

And come out of that.

All right, let's face forward and we're going to do a little bit more work on the outer hip.

So let's lift that knee and tip over and down.

Lift and lift, squeeze together, lift and squeeze.

Lift.

Let's do five, four, three, two, now hold it here.

Extend that leg, I know it's hard.

Make sure your toes are not tipped up towards the ceiling, and down and lift.

Try not to throw that leg around.

Use your core and your hips.

Lift.

Nice, long spine.

And lift, and lift.

All right, now don't put that leg down on the floor yet, reach it back, and squeeze the bottom to lift the leg behind you.

Lift and lift.

Good job.

We're still not done.

Bend that knee towards the butt, extend.

Leg curl.

Good.

Working on that hamstring that's toward the center, or your inner thigh, yeah.

Good.

And let's move the chair around.

And ready again, get that knee up and hydrant.

Nice, strong core as we lift, lift.

Lift, now squeeze it together.

Lift, squeeze, lift.

[inhales and exhales] Lift and lift.

Hold it here.

Extend that leg.

Toes are forward, not towards the ceiling.

Drop and lift.

Lift with purpose.

Don't just swing the leg, okay?

Lift.

And if you're not getting it as high as me, that's not a big deal at all.

Just use those muscles; that's what matters.

And lift, lift.

Good, now, don't put the foot down.

Bring the leg to the back.

Squeeze your bottom.

Lift.

And don't overarch the low back; that's not necessary.

Just squeeze the bottom.

Two more.

Good, and turn and we'll do that hamstring curl.

Down and up.

It's called your medial hamstring.

Good.

Lift, lift.

And last one, maybe you're getting a charley horse, so just stop.

Breathe in.

Those charley horses will get better as your muscles get stronger.

All right, so grab that band and we're going to sit.

Let's wrap the band around your knees.

Okay?

Keep your feet together.

Sit up nice and tall.

And we're going to work those glute medius muscles again on the outside of your hips.

Let's open.

Gonna do 10 of these.

It's three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine.

Hopefully your band is tight enough.

Now let's just hold them open.

If your band's not tight enough to give you a challenge, make it tighter.

Hold it.

Use your abs, you can feel them engage.

And release.

Okay, again, ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three.

I'm sure you're feeling it now.

And hold it there for eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, all right.

Very good job.

We're still using the band.

Let's put it around the bottom of your foot.

Extend your leg forward and press.

Press into the band.

Make sure you're giving yourself enough resistance.

Press.

Good job.

Let's go about five, four, three, two, one, and switch legs.

Press, press, make your foot work, okay?

Press.

[inhales and exhales] A few more, let's do five, four, three, two, and switch legs one more time.

We're going to work on one of these muscles that comes down your shin and supports that calf.

This time, hold from the side, the band from the side, and you wanna tweak your ankle so that the bottom of your foot moves towards or across your body.

Okay?

It's not an easy move.

You don't need a whole lot of force.

You know, you want your ankle to be able to move, but a little bit of resistance is great.

That's what we're after.

Let's do five, four, three, two, switch it.

Okay, I'm crossing at the knee, just makes it easier for me to reach the band.

All right.

And tweak that knee, trying to get the bottom of the foot to move across.

Let's do about eight more.

And five, four, last few.

And good job, everybody.

If you suspect you have knee valgus, I suggest you repeat this workout a few times a week.

In a few weeks, you'll notice that you're stronger.

Taking action over your own health gives you a sense of power and hope for your future.

So join me here daily at pbswisconsin.org/quickfit, where I'll give you the tools to age well so you can keep doing all the things you love.

And until next time, keep on moving.

– Announcer: Funding for Quick Fit with Cassy is provided by Greg and Carol Griffin, founders of ElderSpan Management, Focus Fund for Wisconsin Programming, and Friends of PBS Wisconsin.