You Can't Run Without It!

I'm going to continue with the muscles of the leg today in this anatomy post. This next muscle is one i find dysfunctional a lot. It is a two joint muscle and is imperative to healthy walking and healthy knees. It's one of the four quadricep muscles, the rectus femoris! The rectus femoris or the rec fem as i affectionately call it, sits in the middle of the front of the thigh and runs straight down from hip to knee.

Because it's a two joint muscle, it functions to both flex the thigh at the hip as well as extend the knee joint. The rec fem is a weak hip flexor and is more of a helper to the psoas and illiacus. It's also an antagonist or functional opposite to the hamstrings.

I have found the rec fem to be sometimes overworking and sometimes underworking. When it overworks it can put a lot of strain on the patellar tendon and cause knee issues. When it's underworking it can cause groin, hamstring, or even low back to make up for it and cause pain and dysfunction.

I worked on a marathon runner who had a painful hamstring a while ago. She got to the point to where she couldn't even run a mile because she was in so much pain. Her rec fem was underworking and her hamstrings had to stabilize for it. Once we got her rec fem working again, her hamstring pain went away and she was able to run her double digit distances again. The rec fem is an important muscle to healthy movement and running!

Appreciate your rec fems today and have a wonderful day!