Psoas Stretch

Posted by Martin Koban on Mar 9, 2012 in Articles, Posture | Comments Off

Strong and flexible hip flexors will go a long way in ensuring athletic records and long-term (knee) health. Since people move less and less these days, hips get tighter and as a consequence the number of psoas stretches performed around the globe is probably at an all-time high in the present. In this post we will explore the most effective ways to stretch your psoas, the reasons why you would...

Some love for the iliotibial band

Posted by Martin Koban on Mar 7, 2012 in Articles, Lessons about Pain | Comments Off

The iliotibial band is a thick layer of connective tissue on the outside of your thigh and several muscles attach to it. This attachment site can cause serious knee pain such as patellar tendonitis and while it’s a good idea to find the underlying reasons for a tight iliotibial band, stretching can bring some immediate relief. Of course you’ll also get to jump on the good old foam roller again....

Train your buttocks to fix your knee pain

Posted by Martin Koban on Dec 18, 2011 in Functional Movement | Comments Off

At first glance the influence of the gluteal muscles on knee health is everything but obvious. However, if you scrutinize the function of the gluteals closely, there will be a big aha-moment. In short, the gluteus maximus and posterior fibers of the gluteus medius are responsible for producing hip external rotation and abduction (moving the leg to the outside as in side-lying leg raise). Both...

Basic postural problems: internal rotation of the femur

Posted by Martin Koban on Dec 17, 2011 in Posture | Comments Off

In the last post we looked at a basic postural problem at the hip, anterior pelvic tilt and how to fix it. The topic of this post is the rotation of the femur and specifically you will read about internal rotation of the femur, since this is a usual side-effect of anterior pelvic tilt. If you haven’t yet read the article on pelvic tilt I suggest you do so now, because the knowledge will come in...

Basic postural problems at the hip: anterior pelvic tilt

Posted by Martin Koban on Dec 16, 2011 in Posture | Comments Off

A healthy hip is very important for efficient movement, since most of the power athletes display is generated at the hip. Jumping, sprinting or deadlifting: without a strong hip you won’t excel at these activities. If we look at posture the hip is just as important, since many times wrong posture can be traced back to adaptations at the hip. It is therefore only logical to start looking for...