Hip Mobility: Femur Twist & Knee Alignment Anatomy (2-Min)

Now we're going to examine more closely the importance of the difference between the two femur bones that were introduced earlier in the DVD. As you recall, one is twisted 30 degrees relative to the other. When I hold their knees the same, the necks of the femurs are twisted. If I hold the necks of the femurs at the same angle, now down here at the knees, one's pointed in that direction and one's pointed in that direction.

Because the bone itself is twisted, these two people could not stand with their feet together and have the necks of their femurs at the same angle. How these bones fit in your body is like this. They are both right femur bones or right thigh bones. This is the head of the femur and it fits into the socket of the pelvis.

You can't ever feel the head of the femur with your hand. When you touch your thigh though, you can feel this hard bony surface right here. And that is called the greater trochanter. This is the neck of the femur.

Now this crease is where the knee runs, the kneecap runs. So if I turn the neck of the femur so that the knee is faced forward, on this guy the neck is slanted back in that direction. If I change the bones, put him into the socket, when I turn it so his knee is straight forward, his neck is straight out to the side. If I turn him back to mimic the other guy who has this turn, I have a problem down here because now my knee is going out at the wrong angle.

Or if I take my first example and try to turn the neck of that femur so it's straight out to the side, I still have a problem down here because now the knee is traveling in that direction at the wrong angle. So these two people can never have the tops or the necks of the femurs and the bottoms where the knees are, faced in the same orientation at the same time. And yoga will never change this. This is what you come to yoga class with.