WHEN IT COMES TO SHUTTING DOWN YOUR QUADRICEPS, A LITTLE PAIN CAN GO A LONG WAY

In sports, in order to run, jump, land, and kick, your legs have to be in top shape. Not just for performance but to avoid injury.

Acute, chronic, or post-surgical knee injury, pain, and swelling can drastically “shut down” the ability of your quadriceps to produce power across the knee joint.

Many of our MovEvolution Physical Therapy knee clients experience what’s known as an extensor lag or “quadriceps shock,” where some sort of pain, trauma, or injury has “shocked” the quadriceps muscles into shut down and protection mode. When this happens, you are unable to maintain a fully extended knee when lifting your leg.

“Quadriceps activation failure is common after traumatic knee injuries, such as surgery or an ACL tear. This weakness is beyond conscious control and thought to be caused by an ongoing reflex response to joint injury called arthrogenic muscle inhibition. In arthrogenic muscle inhibition, pain signals from the joint feed back through the spinal cord to inhibit muscles that cross that joint and reduce pressure on the joint. This reflex may be protective at first but, as it persists, atrophy sets in and the weakness limits functional recovery.” — http://posturemovementpain.com

Do you suffer knee pain that’s interfering with your activity or training? CONTACT US to set up a sports screening.

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