The image below doesn’t look like the typical poses of girls in manga? Always keep your knees close together and your feet inward. Many girls deliberately pose in such a pose, and many boys can’t control their legs.
Knee buckle in standing and sitting positions丨Photo courtesy of the author
Occasionally, it’s okay to twist like this when taking pictures, but many people’s knees buckle inward when standing, sitting, going up and down steps or exercising every day, which will damage the joints and the surrounding tissues. Moreover, it is easy to look short and short!
It’s not that the legs are not straight, it’s just that I didn’t pay attention
If there is a lot of distance between the ankles when the knees are closed and the knees are facing straight ahead when standing up straight, it may be a “knee valgus deformity,” which can severely damage the joint and require surgery (except in some children). In such a situation, please go to the hospital to take an X-ray for diagnosis, so there is no need to read further [1-3].
Standing straight with knees together, ankles are far apart, surgery is required丨Reference [4]
Fortunately, most people can keep their ankles together when they stand well, but they just deliberately put their knees in the knees, or buckle them unconsciously during exercise. This can be corrected. And many people don’t need hard training, as long as they consciously control it, they will get better.
But if you insist on not changing it and insist on living in the posture of a girl in anime, it will double the pressure on your knees, damage your joints, cause pain in your legs, and make your legs look ugly [5, 6].
Stand and sit, straighten your legs
When you don’t move for a long time, don’t use a posture with your knees close together and your feet apart, otherwise it will cause pressure on the joints and surrounding ligaments and muscles. For example, don’t use the posture on the left when standing, the latter two are better.
In the left picture, the knees are buckled inside, in the middle picture, the legs are basically close together, and in the right picture, the knees and feet are slightly separated丨Photo courtesy of the author
When sitting, you can spread your legs slightly so that the distance between your knees is close to the distance between your feet. If you must keep your knees tight, don’t separate your feet, just bring your legs together completely.
In the left picture, the knees are buckled inside. In the middle picture, the legs are staggered back and forth, which is also an inside buckle. The right picture is safe丨Photo courtesy of the author
The same is true for sitting directly on the ground. Do not let the distance between the feet be significantly greater than the knees, and it is not good to sit in a W shape[7].
W-shaped sitting on the ground, with legs bent and knees placed on both sides of the body, sitting like this for a long time will damage the skeletal muscles丨pexels
It is difficult for anyone to resist, and the legs in the action
As long as you don’t try to control it, most people will buckle their knees during daily activities. Even professional athletes cannot control their knees when exercising with high intensity or for a long time. Good performance does not mean that their movements are safe.
When doing the same movements, women have more serious knee buckle, so the risk of injury is 5.3 times higher than that of men [8, 9]. This is because the body structure, muscle strength, and coordination of females are different from those of males after they mature [10, 11]. But men do more physical work and exercise more, so the actual number of injuries is twice that of women [12].
Therefore, everyone has the risk of knee buckling to injure joints. When sitting down, standing up or going up and down steps, you should always remind yourself to keep the direction of your knees in line with your toes.
It is correct that the knees and feet are in the same direction丨Photo courtesy of the author
Sit down and stand up with knees together, wrong丨Photo courtesy of the author
It is correct when sitting down, but when standing up, the knee buckles inwards, which is wrong丨Photo courtesy of the author
In various sports, when jumping, falling or bearing weight, the knee is more likely to buckle inward, and the risk of joint injury is greater, and it is more necessary to ensure the standard of posture [13] .
In the left picture, the knee and foot are in the same direction; in the middle picture, the knee is buckled inward; in the right picture, the foot is pointing outward. Although the knee is forward, it is still buckled inward relative to the foot. The risk of joint injury is the highest among the three postures[14]丨Photo provided by the author
Fortunately, most people can improve knee buckle after constantly observing and adjusting their posture (it is of course more effective to have others remind them). Even without special training, the needs of daily activities can be met [15-18].
If you still can’t control it, add some resistance
If you still can’t find the feeling of opening your knees, you can try to use more deliberate force to let the neuromuscular learn to control the posture.
For example, on the basis of squatting, add an elastic band to the thigh. Make sure that the direction of the knee and the foot are in the same direction, repeat squatting several times, take off the elastic band and do the movement again, so that the knee buckle will not be so easy.
All exercises are safest and most effective under face-to-face professional guidance. Please stop if there is pain, numbness, or snapping during the movements.
Open the knee with force, and make sure that the direction of the knee and foot are always consistent丨Photo courtesy of the author
The same is true for standing with both feet back and forth. Use the elastic band to pull the front leg inward, and ensure that the knee and foot are facing straight ahead during the movement.
Adding this exercise before exercise can make the knee more stable and the movement safer during exercise.
Make sure that the knees and feet are facing straight ahead丨Photo courtesy of the author
Not strong enough? There may be surprises in practice
There must be some people who can’t control their legs no matter how hard they try, especially those who don’t usually exercise. At this time, you have to add strength training. Don’t worry, you won’t gain big muscles, and you might wind up with better-looking butt and legs.
There are many muscles that resist knee buckling, among which the gluteus medius is very important [19, 20]. In general, women’s gluteus medius muscles are weaker than men’s and require more exercise [21-24].
The gluteus medius grows on both sides of the hip and is partially covered by the gluteus maximus, which can help the knee open丨图虫创意
The following movements are performed 15 times in each group, and do 4 groups. If you feel relaxed, you can add an elastic band to the lower half of the thigh.
Lying on one side, the pelvis is stable, the feet are close together, and the upper leg is lifted and lowered repeatedly丨Photo provided by the author
Maybe after a few times of training, you will find it easier to control your knees, and your legs will look longer after you get rid of the anime girl pose.
Of course, if conditions permit, one should also improve balance, core, buttocks, and posterior thigh muscle strength, flexibility, and movement skills under professional guidance [25]. Especially for women, before doing sports that are prone to knee injuries, learn to control the knees first, so as to better ensure the safety of the posture [26].
references
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Author: Dai Tianyi
Edit: odette
Source of cover image: Photo courtesy of the author
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