Get your glutes and hamstrings stronger

We discussed above how people with patello-femoral pain have significantly less strength in their gluteals. So whats the easiest way to rectify the situation? If you said Get their glutes stronger, you get the gold star for the day. By working to activate the gluteals pre-workout, and then working to strengthen them within your workout, youll be well on your way to healthier knees in the future. But what about the hamstrings? Have you ever seen someone who just cant sit back when they squat? Or lands on their toes when they lunge? Flat out, these people have terrible posterior chain strength. Its important to note that we want the glutes to be our primary hip extensor, but we cant forget about our other big hip extensors, the hamstrings. Finally, its important to note that while a lot of women who suffer ACL tears are genetically predisposed (via a large Q-Angle and wide pelvis), they could do a lot for themselves by following this tip alone. This genetic predisposition lends them to flawed posture and movement patterns where the quads and adductors do most of the work, while the hamstrings and glutes do minimal work. Couple this flawed posture with the fact that more and more females participate in quad dominant sports such as basketball, soccer and the like, and you have a recipe for disaster. Every female athlete I work with is going to get a steady dose of posterior chain work glute-hams, RDLs, deadlifts, reverse hypers, and pull-throughs. It can be difficult, but try to focus on bringing up total strength of the posterior chain while also optimizing recruitment patterns. Focusing on squeezing the glutes at the top of all movements can go a long way.