subject: Are My Knees Straight? [print this page] Are My Knees Straight? Are My Knees Straight?
My ballet instructor advised me I sometimes don't straighten my legs in lev as much as I should. She mentioned I have to tighten my quad muscle. I believed I was doing that. What muscle is she speaking about precisely? She said it's above the knee. Is that all I must do to have stick straight legs? Is there some other way to keep my knees straight always?
Thanks, Val
I've got a few thoughts, Val. One is that you simply might have some weak spot in either the quadriceps muscle or the calf muscle tissues, or both. The quadriceps muscular tissues are hip flexors and knee extensors. That means they bend the thigh in the direction of the pelvis they usually straighten the knee. Here are photos of the quadriceps muscle tissues and the calf muscles. Within the picture of the calf muscular tissues, the gastrocnemius muscle has been cut away so you can see the soleus muscle underneath.
Start by standing in parallel, sideways to the mirror. Are your legs straight with the knees in keeping with the hips and ankles? You don't want the knees to be behind the center of the hip and ankle because they'd imply they are hyperextended, and you don't want the knees in front of the middle of the hip and ankle because that means they're barely bent.
I'm assuming that when you're simply standing still - your legs are straight. Now, slowly begin to rise onto the balls of your feet. As you rise, do your knees bend at all? If that's the case, there's some weakness.
To handle the weakness you can do two quite simple power exercises. The first is to stand on the barre on one foot and do gradual single leg relevs and levs. Ensure you aren't gripping the floor together with your toes whenever you do so. You can do them in parallel and in turnout.
The second exercise is doing very small single leg demi plis, both in parallel and in turnout. You once more don't need to lower very far, nor do very many repetitions before you discover the quadriceps tiring. If your thighs are sore the subsequent day then that is a signal that you overdid the repetitions and pull back some.
The other comment I wish to make is that knees come in all shapes and sizes and typically the shape of your knee makes it appear like they aren't straight. In case you have knobby knees like the image of a very famous actress that is shown beneath - they might not look straight when they are.
One strategy to see when you've got a structural downside with straightening your knees (and I've only seen a couple of individuals who couldn't straighten their knees) is by lying face down with solely the lower part of the leg off the table. Notice on this picture that the right heel is higher than the left? This is a sign of a more significant contracture within the muscular tissues - or a structural concern.
Once more, in the event you can stand with straight legs - or lie down along with your legs straight, then you might want to focus on strengthening the muscles around the knee and ankle for your lev and relevs. Good luck!
