Vastus Medialis and Squats

Preferential activation of the vastus medialis head of the quadriceps is a trend that never seems to end. While I have talked previously in this post about the research for trying to activate the VMO, the concept was revisited by Chris Beardsley in this post recently but with more of a focus on alterations in squat forms. Changing the position of the ankles may improve quadriceps activation overall and the amount of activation does change throughout the depth of the squat; however, no study has been able to selectively activate the VMO. Check out these posts for a more in-depth analysis of the studies and their impact, but, overall, just focus on trying to strengthen the quadriceps muscle group as a whole instead of trying to isolate.

-Dr. Chris Fox, PT, DPT, OCS

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