Nelly Ilyasova
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The knee, the victim joint

In Nelly's teaching, the knee is rarely the cause of a problem. It is the joint that inherits problems from the hip above and the ankle below. Check those two first.

Educational content only; this is not medical advice.

Two names for the same idea

Nelly calls the knee "the victim joint". Any dysfunction in your hips or any problem in your ankle affects your knee. Earlier, she called it the poor middle brother: the joint that sits between two others and gets blamed for their arguments.

Why the knee is exposed

The ankle sits close to the ground, packed with bones and ligaments, so it is protected. The knee sits out in the middle, with comparatively little around it, connecting two strong joints. When those two do not do their jobs, the knee struggles.

The lunge seen from the front, with the hip, knee and ankle of the front leg marked with orange rings
Our 3D tool: hip above, knee in the middle, ankle below.

What the knee is made of

The knee is a hinge joint made of the femur (thigh bone), the tibia (shin bone) and the patella (kneecap). Menisci absorb shock. Cruciate and collateral ligaments hold it steady. The patella is both a bone and a protector: all four quadriceps muscles attach to it through the patellar ligament.

What comes from below: the ankle

When the ankle is tight, the knee can collapse inward, the foot rolls in, the pelvis shifts and the lower back compensates. The movement is still completed, but the way the force travels has changed.

What comes from above: the hip

Weak glutes affect the knee too. The glutes control the position of the thigh bone and stabilise the pelvis, and weakness contributes to knee instability. This is why the glute medius, the glute on the side of your hip, matters for your knees (link to the gluteus medius article).

What strong quads do

Weak quads mean less stability around the knee. Because all the quadriceps attach to the kneecap, strengthening them helps the kneecap stay stable. In Nelly's order, her top four quad exercises are the elevator lunge, the escalator lunge, the skater and the runner's lunge.

Try this

Before you correct a client's knee, check the two joints on either side of it. Where does the foot sit? Does the weight stay across the whole foot? Does the pelvis stay level? Then look at the knee again.

Questions people ask

Why is the knee called the victim joint?

Because problems in the hip above and the ankle below land on the knee.

What should I check first when a knee hurts?

The ankle and the hip, then the knee.

How do quads help the knee?

All four quadriceps attach to the kneecap, so strengthening them helps the knee stay stable.

Written by Nelly Ilyasova, Lagree Global Master Trainer. Source: Nelly's Functional Anatomy & Physiology of Lagree course.

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