Problems with knee (inner thigh muscle) vastus medialis? anyone?

[nickatnite]

Hey everyone -
So I'm having an issue where my inner thigh muscle (vastus medialis) is pretty weak compared to my other quad muscles. I am trying to find exercises/work-outs to strengthen but am having a tough time searching online. My problem is that my knees are pulling outward. (right knee looks like its leaning to the right and the left looks like its leaning to the left..) It's a little painful, but nothing major. More annoying if anything because that muscle is so weak. If anyone has ever had this problem please let me know what you did. Trying to save some money off of physical therapy if I can. I was thinking of maybe jacking up the resistance on an elliptical and going backwards? Not sure if that would help. Leg press/outward squats didn't really seem to do anything.

Thanks for the help!

 

[Bryan Haycock]

Hi nickatnite,

What do you mean by "leaning to the left" and "pulling outward"? Do you mean the whole leg is twisting outward during a specific movement?

If you can be more specific about what you're seeing we can get down to a possible solution.

-bryan

 

[OhNoYo]

Hey everyone -
So I'm having an issue where my inner thigh muscle (vastus medialis) is pretty weak compared to my other quad muscles. I am trying to find exercises/work-outs to strengthen but am having a tough time searching online. My problem is that my knees are pulling outward. (right knee looks like its leaning to the right and the left looks like its leaning to the left..) It's a little painful, but nothing major. More annoying if anything because that muscle is so weak. If anyone has ever had this problem please let me know what you did. Trying to save some money off of physical therapy if I can. I was thinking of maybe jacking up the resistance on an elliptical and going backwards? Not sure if that would help. Leg press/outward squats didn't really seem to do anything.

Thanks for the help!

Start your workouts w/ leg extensions but instead of having your feet pointed straight ahead, have your feet pointed inward. This will isolate the vastus medialis (teardrop muscle). After this, hit squats and leg presses, alterating them every workout. That should get your vastus medialis to grow, since it will be a type of pre-exhaust workout for them.