Are There Special Exercises for Bow Legs?

Key points in 30 seconds

1. There's no bow leg exercise that suits everyone.
2. If your knees cave inward when you stand up from a squat, your buttock muscles aren't holding your legs in place.
3. Just adding more reps in that state means practicing the wrong movement.
4. We don't only look at you standing; we also look at you moving and standing on one leg.
5. We choose exercises after checking.

What we often hear

• "Are there special exercises for bow legs?"
• "I watch YouTube, but I don't know what to believe."
• "I'm worried I'll do it wrong on my own."

Are there special exercises for bow legs?

There's no bow leg exercise that suits everyone. Even with the same bow legs, what's stiff and what's weak differs, so we choose exercises after checking.

Some people come in after doing exercises they found online and actually ending up in pain. In most cases, the exercise wasn't bad; their body just wasn't one that needed that exercise.

What does it mean if my knees cave in when I squat?

It means your buttock muscles can't hold your legs outward. The moment you push, your thighbones roll inward and your knees move closer together.

That was true for one person we saw in the clinic. They said they often felt their knees and ankles weren't firmly supported when walking or exercising. In fact, when they stood up from sitting, one knee caved in, and more of their weight went onto one leg.

If you just add more reps in this state, you end up repeatedly practicing the knee-caving movement. The exercise ends up locking it in.

What do you check before exercise?

We look at both your still posture and your posture while moving. We check where the pelvis and knees sit, how far the hip joints rotate, and the difference between left and right.

Often things look fine standing still but show up once you move. So we don't just look at you standing still. We compare left and right for how far the hips bend and straighten, and how far they rotate in and out.

Why does standing on one leg matter?

When we walk, we're actually taking turns standing on one leg. How much you wobble on one leg shows how stable your walking is.

This person had a difference in hip function between left and right, and a pattern of leaning to one side kept repeating with every movement. We also found that when walking, their weight wasn't evenly split between the inner and outer edges of the feet. The leg shape and the movement imbalance were showing up together.

What are the limits of this judgment?

Judging by watching movement involves the eye of the person watching. Without equipment that films and measures angles, it doesn't leave a number behind.

Also, to say which way of choosing exercises works better, we would need data from having people do different exercises side by side. We don't have that kind of comparison data. What's written here is the pattern we've seen in the clinic when exercises are chosen to match what we found.

Before we teach you any exercise, we first figure out what kind of bow legs you have. Depending on whether it's the bone itself or the pelvis and muscles, the exercises you need can be the opposite.

If you've done exercises from the internet and nothing has changed, come in and get measured. We'll start by deciding what fits your legs right now.

Even with the same exercise, results differ because what's stiff and what's weak differs from person to person.