| Written by Doug Gibson, on 12-05-2008 11:53 |
Sensible Fitness: Practicing Safe Stilettos
Are your heels causing you pain? Strengthening the muscles in your legs can help you stay in your favorite heels longer! Our fitness guru tells you how.
Question:
My knees hurt when I squat down or wear high heels. I know you have a physical therapy background, so do you have any idea what might be wrong? – Erica
Answer:
Erica, although you would need to be officially diagnosed and I am unqualified to do so, you have the classic symptoms of an ailment called Chondromalacia, a softening or irritation of the cartilage underneath your kneecap. This is a fairly common problem, especially for women.
When you bend and straighten your knees with various activities such as squatting down to grab your shoes, your kneecap, properly called the patella, slides up and down over the two bones that make up the knee joint. These bones are your femur (thigh bone) and tibia (shin bone). If your patella does not slide in a straight line, it can eventually cause irritation to the cartilage on the underside of it and cause pain. This pain is often felt underneath your kneecap while squatting, ambulating stairs and even while sporting your favorite pair of Jimmy Choo’s.
In most cases, this is the result of an imbalance of strength in the muscles of your thigh, called the quadriceps. If the muscles on the outside of the thigh become stronger than the muscles on the inside, they can pull your kneecap to the side a little bit, taking it out of the track it is supposed to slide in. This eventually leads to irritation and pain. Women’s hips are also wider which places your femur at a slight angle, potentially contributing to even more pain and suffering.
If you want healthy knees, strengthening the quadriceps muscle that is on the medial side of your thigh is a great place to start. There is an entire series of exercises that I would usually perform with a person to target this muscle, but an easy one to describe in print is a “wall squat.” Simply lean your back against a wall and then slide down until your hip joint and knee joint are both at 90-degree angles. This means your femur is parallel with the floor and your knee is directly over your ankle. I also want you to squeeze a small ball or rolled up towel between your knees as hard as you can. Hold this position for as long as you can tolerate the burn in the thighs, then rest and repeat three to five times. Beginners might last 15 seconds and an advanced person can go over a minute. Again, this is just one of a series of exercises needed to bring the strength of this muscle to 100 percent.
While many people get an ache or pain and avoid activity and stop exercising, I have a different opinion. While I strongly believe that you should avoid all activities that cause unwelcome pain, the proper exercise program may be the only thing that is needed to solve the problem and should not be avoided. I have lost count of the number of people who I have helped cease chiropractic visits or avoid surgery. Your body is an amazing machine and if all of your muscles have a good balance of strength and flexibility, many of the aches and pains will simply go away. Don’t let your knee pain throw you in flats when the right strengthening program can keep you in your stilettos!
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