hey onspeed…
now you’re asking me a question lol… this is something I remember from studies as it came as quite a shock to me.. but dont forget that we are talking about the Vastus medialis oblique and not the bulk of the vastus medialis which your sprinters will all have… I did a quick google of VMO and the first this up I clicked on which was wikepedia… in here they said the following..
Some authorities maintain there is a separate aspect to the Vastus Medialis muscle – the “Vastus Medialis Obliquus”[1] or more commonly the “VMO”[2] which is reported to have a more oblique or horizontal orientation to the bulk of the remainder of the muscle thereby disposing it to be better able to ‘pull’ the patella medially. Unfortunately careful inspection of many cadavers reveals that the fibres of the Vastus Medialis are largely parallel and there is no significant separate aspect of the contractile fibres fitting this description which would suggest it is time to lay this clinical myth to rest.
The VMO in essence was always a really small oblique aspect of the VM muscle, which was supposed to add extra stability to the knee…
Im sorry for this rough and not so text book example, and to be honest Ive not even looked at its references and who its been done by, but leave it with me and I’ll get all my notes out and start searching again as this must have been about 7 years ago when I learnt this.. like I said, was one of those things where you go wow, hmmmm so why do people really go on about rehabilitation of the VMO is it doesnt solely exist on everyone…
anyway, I go on to much, hope this has helped..
thanks guys
Luke