Juggling

Every evening, after I finish a long run, I work on ball control by juggling my soccer ball for roughly 15 minutes. To initially get the ball in the air, I place my right foot on top of the ball. This involves elevating and lowering my foot with slight hip and knee flexion while the left foot remains planted. By applying a little more pressure to the ball, I am able to pull it backward by flexing my knee a little more. While it is rolling, I quickly extend my knee to plant my right foot in a plantarflexed position, allowing the ball to roll onto the dorsum of my foot. After timing it just right, I “flick” the ball up so it becomes airborne by flexing my hip and knee again while quickly dorsiflexing my ankle. The rest of the activity involves a repetitious pattern of planting my foot while the ball is in the air by extending my hip and knee and plantarflexing my ankle and lifting my foot by flexing my knee and hip and dorsiflexing my ankle in order to make contact with the ball to kick it back into the air. This series of motion ends when the ball falls to the ground out of my control, and I start it over again. 

All osteokinematic actions of hip flexion and extension, knee flexion and extension, and ankle plantar and dorsiflexion move along the sagittal plane and about the frontal axis of rotation. The arthrokinematics of the tibiofemoral (i.e. knee) joint involve the convex surface of the distal femur sliding anteriorly while rolling posteriorly on the tibial plateau. The prime movers involved in knee flexion include concentric contraction of the hamstring muscles (i.e. biceps femoris, semitendinosus, and semimembranosus) while the gracilis, sartorius, gastrocnemius, and popliteus muscles act as synergists.  

~ Pam ♡