hey everybody it's doctor jo and sweet Kali,
and today i'm going to show you stretches and exercises for bowed legs.
so let's get started.
so before we get started, if you haven't already, make sure and click on that
subscribe button because it helps my channel grow and it allows me to
continue to make videos for everybody. so with bowed legs, sometimes this is a
bone issue. and if it's a bone issue, something you've had all your life, or
because the bone is degenerating, stretches and exercises probably aren't
going to help. but if this is coming from weak or tight hip muscles, these
exercises might help for you. so the first one we're going to do is
just a hip internal rotation because we want to be able to bring those knees
back in if they're bowed out. a lot of times that's because those internal
rotators are weak, so this one is just going to be an um
reverse clam shell is what a lot of people call it.
so you get into that clam shell position, which you might have seen in some of my
videos, where you want to make sure your hips
are perpendicular to the floor or the couch or the bed. you don't have
to get on the floor to do these. but you don't want to be rolling your hips while
you're doing them. the top leg is going to be a little bit
different than the normal clamshells because usually
you bring your knees apart. this time the knees are going to stay together,
and you're going to lift that foot up. so see i'm going into that internal
rotation of the hip. so these are ones that sometimes it might feel
pretty easy. you might not feel like you're doing a whole lot, but if you're
doing them correctly and you're not rolling your hips a lot, a
lot of times by the time you get to seven or eight, you might be feeling it a
little bit. and then once they get really easy, you can add a resistive
band into it. but just nice slow and controlled movement,
really trying to rotate. you should feel it at the hips,
you might feel it at the knee a little bit if you have any issues,
but just starting off maybe with five to ten. kind of working your way up doing
those a couple times a day. so the next one is going to be
a side lying hip adduction. again you want to work those
inner thigh muscles to help bring those knees in.
so this time this is the leg that i'm going to be working. so the one that
you want to to work on, to strengthen, is going to be on the floor. but i would
recommend working both sides with all these
exercises if they're both bowed, but the one that's going to be
working is on the floor or the bed. so with your top leg, you can either put
it in the front, or you can put it in the back. whichever
one is more comfortable for you. make sure you're lying down, i'm just
holding up my head so i can look at you a little bit easier,
but again same kind of thing, you want your hips to be pretty perpendicular. you
don't want them to be rolling. and the leg movement is not
going to be very big. so before i do this i want to take my thumbnail really
quickly. you can take it along with me if you
want. so you can see my leg's not going to come up very high.
some people want to try and rotate and bring it up, but then you're not quite
getting that exercise of those hip adductors
adductors. so it doesn't have to be a big movement.
you're just lifting up your leg trying to keep your toes pointed
as you go. so same thing, just start off with a little bit. these are a little
harder than they look. even with just a couple, i can already
feel those muscles working a little bit. so it doesn't have to be
a lot. so the next exercise is going to be
for the dorsiflexors because a lot of times if you're rolling out those
dorsiflexors, the ones that pull up your foot when you
walk, aren't quite getting what they're they're doing. you can do this seated.
you can do this on the floor, on your bed. i like kind of
on the floor because you can get a little bit closer. you can do these a
couple different ways by anchoring the band somewhere, but i like
to just kind of hold it like this. and then you're just going to pull up
because then you can change your resistance. so if i want more,
if that's too hard, i can stretch that band a little bit,
and then i'm just pulling up in to that dorsi
flexion, getting those anterior tibialis muscles and all those coming up.
so just nice and controlled. when you're using a band,
you don't want it to be wiggling because that might just mean that you're not
quite ready for the band. and then you can just put your foot out
and just do pulls up that way. so again with the band, just
starting off with maybe five to ten and then kind of working your way up
from there a couple of times a day. so after that, we're going to go
into a glute stretch or a figure four stretch
because a lot of times the glutes are tight. and so they're
pulling those hips outward. so an easy way to stretch those glutes
is just to do that figure four where the side you want to stretch. so if i'm
stretching this side, i'm crossing it over to the,
other side. and again make sure you're relaxing your head. don't don't strain
your neck while you're doing it. i'm just bringing it up so i can talk to
you. and then you're going to grab between the other side
and just pull up this way. so i should be feeling that stretch
right in through here. so stretching out those
external rotators the glutes and all that kind of stuff.
and since this is a full stretch, you're going to hold it for 30 seconds.
and then do that three times on each side. so i'll show you the other side
real quick. so crossing over, just right above the knee,
grabbing underneath, and pulling up towards you until you
feel that nice stretch. the stretch should feel comfortable with tension it
shouldn't be painful. and again holding that for 30 seconds,
doing that three times on each side. so the next ones are going
to be seated. so in seated you can also do hip
internal strengthening, hip internal rotation
strengthening. so when you're seated if you turn your foot
out this way, that's that hip internal rotation.
but it's not bringing the leg out, it's rotating here. so the knee doesn't
really move that much. you should feel it up at the
hip. so this is the hip internal rotation
strengthening. you can do these without a band, but if they feel pretty
easy, if you can get to 25 30 easily, then you might want to try a
resistive band. so you can just anchor it with the other
side. and then same thing, you're just rotating it outwards. so this
i feel it a lot in the hip here. so
make sure you start off with the lightest band if you're going to try it,
and then kind of work your way up from there.
so then the next one is going to be kind of a figure four
stretch seated. so again stretching out the glutes, stretching out those
hip external rotators. so it's kind of the same as lying down,
except this time when you cross over, you're going to be moving your upper
body instead of bringing your lower body up to you.
so sit up nice and straight. make sure your back is straight,
and you're just leaning forward at your hips.
so i feel that underneath that booty area on this side, the one that you're
bringing over to get that stretch. so it's not curling
down, i'm feeling no stretch with that keep that back straight,
and just bend forward at your hips. so since this is again a stretch,
you're going to hold that for 30 seconds and then do that three times
on each side. so just crossing over kind of right above the knee there,
and then leaning into it getting that stretch.
so again you want to be comfortable in tension, but you don't want it to be
painful. and then so the last one is going to be
standing up. so the last one is going to be again working the adductors and the
internal rotators. so you can get just a soccer ball,
basketball, yoga blocks work really well, just
something that will keep your knees still about a a hip
width distance apart. maybe a little bit more a little bit less, but you don't
want them to be really close together. so for this one, this is not going to be
a squat, it's going to kind of be a hip hinge.
but what you want to do is squeeze into the ball. so i'm getting that squeeze,
activating these muscles, you know activating those internal
muscles keeping my back straight, and just kind of hinging down like i'm
going towards my toes. but keep that squeeze the whole time.
that's the hardest part is keeping that squeeze.
and then going down. you'll feel those hamstring stretches,
and then come back up. so just nice continuous slow motion.
if you have to reset each time with the squeeze,
you can, but if you really want to get that good strengthening, try and keep
that squeeze the whole time when you're going down
and coming back up. so there you have it, those are stretches
and exercises for bowed legs. if you'd like to help support my channel, make
sure and click on the link up there, and don't forget to subscribe by
clicking down there. and remember be safe, have fun, and i hope you feel
better soon.