Exercises to ease knee pain are very important, especially since knees are the most commonly injured joints in the body.
Extra weight has a lot to do with knee pain. Being overweight makes men five times more likely and women four times more likely to develop knee osteoarthritis. Research shows that a 10% decrease in weight will result in a 28% increase in knee function (such as for climbing stairs and walking).
Strengthening the muscles that support your knee will reduce stress on your knee joint. Strong muscles help your knee joint absorb shock. Strength training can also reduce knee arthritis and lessen your risk of osteoporosis.
Stronger leg muscles help stabilize your knee joint, something especially important if you have damaged knee cartilage or ligaments.
In order to have stronger knees, you need to strengthen your hips and butt. Our butt muscles are weak (for most of us). When the main butt muscle (gluteus maximus) is weak, it causes the pelvis to drop and the upper thigh bone (femur) to fall inward. This imbalance creates painful downward stress on the hip, knee, and ankle every time you take a step.
If you have knee pain and are limited, below are suggestions on what kind of exercises you can do or work your way up to.
The following cardiovascular exercises are good because they are low-impact. If walking is painful start with a recumbent bike or water aerobics, and slowly work your way up to walking.
CARDIO
Stationery Biking
Swimming or Water Aerobics
Walking
EXERCISES
1. Lateral Band Step (10 each)
2. Band Squat (10)
3. Step-Up (alternating legs, 10 each)
4. Seated Leg Extension (hold 3 seconds, switch,10 each)
5. Single Leg Bridge (hold 3 seconds then switch, 10 each)
1 set, 3x a week
If at any time your knees hurt during any of the exercises, stop and only do the ones that are not painful. As your muscles get stronger, hopefully you’ll be able to add those exercises back in.
The above knee exercises can often be done with ease, even with bad knees. However, always check with your doctor or physical therapist before beginning any “bad-knee” workout.
Purchase your band today so you can start getting stronger.
(Start with the yellow band. Even though it says the yellow band is a medium resistance, it is actually quite light. Once the exercises aren’t challenging, use the red band.)
Wishing you healthy, happy knees!
Shine Brightly,
Ali
P.S. Here’s a desk workout that can help keep you moving.
