252 Dance Anatomy and Kinesiology
tibia and femur is considerably less than 170°. This
condition is termed genu valgum, or “knock-knees.”
In such a case, when a dancer stands with the feet
parallel and the knees touching, the feet cannot
touch and remain separated. To help remember this
terminology, associate the “l” in valgum with the “l”
in lateral. So, in genu valgum, the tibia angles later-
ally relative to the femur (figure 5.11A). You can
also remember this terminology by thinking that
with genu valgum, a piece of sticky gum is holding
the knees together while the tibia angles laterally.
A distance of 3.5 inches (9-10 centimeters) or more
between the ankles is considered excessive by Magee(1997). This alignment of the knee is of concern in
terms of aesthetics, the resultant increased load on
the lateral meniscus and increased tension on the
medial collateral ligament, negatively impacting
alignment of the patella, and the commonly associ-
ated “rolling in” (excessive pronation) of the foot.
Orthopedic evaluation of 40 elite ballet students
showed no cases of genu valgum (Hamilton et al.,
1997). One could postulate that this lack of occur-
rence was due to dropout from injury or screening
out due to aesthetic considerations, or that ballet
training tends to alter this knee alignment. Further
investigation of this issue would be valuable.FIGURE 5.11 Knee alignment. (A) Anterior view, (B) lateral view.