Exercising the joints and the core muscles in your body can be vital if you want to address and straighten bow legs.
It can also help to do exercises that are specifically targeted at strengthening those muscles responsible for supporting your legs- namely, the calf and thigh muscles.
Exercise is also important because it helps to remind you that you’re actually capable of straightening your legs, and of doing so entirely through your own efforts.
Squats and calf raises are two of the best basic exercises for bow legs as they concentrate on the key elements needed to improve your legs’ muscular condition.
These key elements are posture, balance, and developing the strength and flexibility of your knees.
They also strengthen your core muscles and joints such as the hips, shoulders and vertebral joints.
While doing any of these exercises, it is critically important to stop what you are doing the moment your knees show any sign of pain or of being overworked.
Resume the exercise only once they feel better.
Squats
To do a squat, you need to stand with both your feet shoulders-width apart.
Make sure your toes are pointing forward and slightly outwards.
You should stand tall, bearing in mind that one of the goals of this exercise is to help you regain proper skeletal alignment.
Place your hands behind your head and slowly start bending your knees whilst lowering your body gently into a squatting position.
It is important to avoid letting your knees bend forward too much as you do this, as this in itself can be damaging rather than beneficial for them.
Try to ensure that you are maintaining a balanced posture, while holding your back straight and as erect as you possibly can.
Keeping your eyes focused on an object in front of you or a fixed spot on the wall can make it easier to keep your head held high, thus allowing you to maintain correct posture.
Once you feel as though your knees can’t bend any lower, hold the position for around 3 seconds before slowly straightening your legs and returning to your original standing position.
Repeat this 2 to 3 times daily and eventually, you begin to notice your legs begin to straighten.
This in turn should allow your squat to get progressively deeper as time passes.
Calf Raises
The idea behind these exercises is to contract your calf muscles so that you’re raising your body on your tiptoes.
Look for a step along a staircase that you can stand on while balancing on your toes.
First, stand on the step so that your feet are level with the surface; this is the starting position.
Next, maintaining a focus on your balance, slowly raise your body up onto your toes as high as you possibly can.
Hold this position for a few seconds.
Then, slowly lower your body so that your heels hang below the level of the surface you are standing on, all the while making sure that you maintain your balance throughout this movement.
Hold this position for around 3 seconds before returning to the starting position.
Repeat this 3-4 more times or as many as you can without straining your knees too much.
Bow legs are known to affect your body’s posture and also to cause damage to a host of joints within the body.
With this in mind, it’s vital to consider exercises that strengthen the body as a whole and improve overall balance.
After all, your body functions as one unit. It’s possible to achieve this through simple exercises, such as stepping or balancing routines and squats.
While a more complex routine will be necessary to fully straighten bowed legs, these simple exercises are a great start, and will set you on the path to attaining a normal and fully functional body.
Bow Legs No More is a downloadable program by Sarah Brown to help people suffering the same problem as her.
