Bow Leg Problem and Sprinting

[dustin]

My right leg is slightly bowed and is currently causing some injury problems. I am a sprinter and long jumper. the main pain is coming from my knee however because of the bow I dont think my quad is absorbing force the way that it should during sprinting, jumping, squatting, etc....and causing tightness around he hamstring, glute, hip area. My question is what can a do about stregthening and stretching to help fix these issues? Thanks you

[alophysio]

Hi,

As a fellow bow-legged human, i can tell you that you can't change the shape of the bone.

However, i would make sure that from the foot joints to the neck joints, all of them are working properly. I would also ask someone to assess my muscular balance to sort that out. I would also ask for an assessment on my movement strategies (which muscles i use to move in different activities) and ask for them to be optimised.

If you can't find someone who can do that for you, keep asking around until someone knows how!

The tightness that you feel in hams, gluts and hips are likely to be the muscles overworking in compensation. That is why optimising the joint function and muscular balance, you can help your problems.

THe other thing is i can't really tell you what to do to help your issues without an examination - i know it sounds like a copout but imagine how bad i would feel if i gave you something that made you worse?

If you post some of the things you are thinking of doing, perhaps we can help you more with those...

Otherwise find someone who can help witht he above.

Cheers

[Canuck Physio]

Hmm... you appear to be very athletic.
Doesn't save you from problems tho,

I am just curious whether you can describe your posture in more detail. Especially the ankle, foot etc.

Most likely something muscular is happening and without sorting it out you are just compounding the problem.