Sports Injury Website

How does the leg's skeletal-muscle structure govern your body's movement? Muscles run from one bone to another, spanning one or more joints. The muscle itself does not attach to the bone, but rather uses a cable-like bridge called a tendon.

Any means of propulsion, be it hiking, biking or in-line skating, requires the complex harmonized cooperation of muscle, tendon and joint. When you ask a body part to move, one muscle (agonist) contracts, while its opposing partner muscle (antagonist) relaxes. These simultaneous actions work together to prevent extreme joint movement, conserve energy, improve efficiency, prolong endurance and reduce impact.

A healthy athlete maintains this balance. However, if either muscle of a pair becomes stronger than its partner, the likelihood of injury to the muscles, tendons and connected joints increases. Muscle-pair imbalance is one of the most common underlying reasons for athletic injury.

Everyday activities such as walking, sitting and lifting tend to promote muscle imbalance, which is all the more reason to commit to a serious workout regimen before doing something like embarking on an active vacation.
Consider one of the biggest muscle pairs in your legs--the quadriceps and hamstrings. When you move your thigh forward, the muscle at the front of your thigh (quadriceps) shortens, much like a rubber band, to move the big bone (the femur). As it shortens, the muscle that attaches your knee to your buttocks (the hamstring) relaxes. When equally strong, these muscles harmonize to keep the knee functioning to its maximum potential. Most people, however, have an imbalance between these two muscles in favor of the quadriceps.

It's also important to stretch your muscles. Hiking, biking and in-line skating can call upon both types of muscle fiber--fast-twitch for burst-type speed activity such as hoisting your body up onto a boulder from one foot, and slow-twitch for activity such as cruising flat miles on a bike. Stretching improves the efficiency of fast- and slow-twitch muscle types by reducing shortness and tightness and extending the range of motion of the joints to which the muscles attach.

Muscles become injured for many reasons, including poor technical skills, exposure to the cold, incomplete warm up, dehydration, and overuse and fatigue. To combat injury, pay close attention to exercise instruction, dress appropriately for the weather, always warm up before beginning an activity, and rehydrate frequently--even if you're not thirsty.

Although it's often an injury site due to improper stretching, Achilles pain can be abated by elevating the heel in the shoe or boot. Injuries to this area are common and disastrous. Heel pain should be treated much more seriously than other aches and pains of overuse. Altering the stress by improving technique can relieve muscle soreness, as can minor adjustments in equipment. If a limp or obvious swelling occurs, your body is trying to tell you something.