. The quadriceps, on the front of the thigh, comprises four muscles that extend and stabilise the knee and decelerate the forces of impact when the foot lands.Unlike most muscles, the hamstrings and the quadriceps cross two joints – the hip and knee – which means

and burns additional calories while allowing your legs time to recover from the repetitive load of running.Exercising places stress on your joints and muscles, so concentrating on a single sport (such as running) will mean the same muscles are always under

of your joints and extremities. Tight or imbalanced muscles in the back are regular causes of injury as they are often ignored in training. Pilates can balance those muscles by simultaneously stretching and strengthening the muscles that are pulling

muscles to lock out your knee. Sounds simple - standing on one straight leg - but as always with Bikram, it's not. Locking the leg is different from hyper-extending the leg. Hyper-extension is allowing the knee joint to lock, and involves little muscle

.com) and author of Runner’s World Guide to Cross-Training, the key to preventing most running injuries is to increase the strength and stability of three important joint areas: the hips, knees and ankles. "Most people blame the force of impact itself for running

and the range of movement around the joints, training runners to use the body as one unit, teaching alignment and restoring balance.Hot yoga, of course, takes this one step further. The use of a hot room (typically up to 40˚C) increases blood flow to the muscles

UAN:212 Article type:--Hamstrings are unusual in that they pass over two joints, the hip and the knee. They are therefore most likely to be injured when the hip is bent and the knee fully straightened. Further stretching may cause an injury

UAN:243 Article type:--Practice Physiotherapists use a variety of treatments to help muscles and joints overcome injury and work to their full potential. These treatments include: exercise programmes to improve mobility and strengthen muscles

, or dysfunction of the inferior tibio-fibular joint. It’s a good idea to ice and compress this injury; however you probably still need to have the ankle fully assessed to get an accurate diagnosis and appropriate treatment.Finally, your knee injury

rotation or hip inflexibility (which is very common), then a heel raise is inappropriate and may even make the problem worse. The sacro-iliac joints in your pelvis must, therefore, also be checked before heel raises are prescribed. This is crucial