Knee Health Exercises

Introduction

Knee pain is a common complaint that affects people of all ages. Knee pain may be the result of an injury, such as a ruptured ligament or torn cartilage. Medical conditions — including arthritis, gout and infections — also can cause knee pain. Many types of minor knee pain respond well to self-care measures. Physical therapy and knee braces also can help relieve knee pain. In many cases, you may be able to prevent minor knee pain by maintaining a healthy weight and exercising regularly to strengthen your muscles and protect your joints.

Knee flexibility exercises

Stretching your lower body is important for knee health because it can help with flexibility, mobility, stability and function.

What Is Flexibility?

Flexibility is the ability to move joints through their full range of motion.

Gentle knee extension exercises

• Knee extension exercises help to strengthen the quadriceps, which are the muscles located on the front of your thighs.
• To perform a knee extension exercise, lie on your back with both knees bent at a 90 degree angle. Lift one leg off of the floor until it is parallel with the floor and lower it back down. Repeat this 10 times before switching legs and repeating another set of 10 repetitions.

Hamstring stretching exercises

You can also try hamstring stretches:

• Calf stretch: This is the most common way to stretch your hamstrings. Stand next to a wall, and place one foot on the wall. Keep your back heel flat on the floor, and slowly lean forward until you feel a comfortable stretch in your hamstrings. Hold for 30 seconds each side, if possible (do not overstretch).
• Glute stretch: Lie face down on the floor with both hands touching behind you at about shoulder width apart (or wider). Slowly lift both legs off the floor until only your upper body remains on the ground; keep them straight throughout this exercise! Hold for 30 seconds per side if possible; do not overstretch or strain yourself! We caution against doing this exercise more than once every three days because it could damage ligaments in your back if not done correctly!

Knee strength exercises

Flexion and extension exercises are helpful for the recovery of knees.

• Flexion and extension exercises help with knee strength
• Flexion and extension exercises help with knee pain
• Flexion and extension exercises help with knee management
• Flexion and extension exercises help with knee recovery

Strengthen your glutes, quadriceps, and hamstrings

In order to be healthy and strong, your body needs to have good balance. The muscles that stabilize your hips provide this stability.

• In order to keep your hips stable while they are moving, you need mobility in those joints. This allows the hip muscles to work together as a team instead of competing with each other for control over the joint.
• The gluteus maximus (also known as the butt muscle) is a major player when it comes to stabilizing movement of the knee joint because it attaches around both sides of both femur bones (thigh bones). It also helps extend and rotate your leg backward when you walk or run, which moves weight off from the front part of your foot so that you can put more force into pushing off for another step forward. The glutes need strength training in order for them to be able to do all these things properly—and if there’s not enough strength there then they won't function properly! They also need flexibility training so that they're not being used too much or stretched out too far by daily activities like walking around at school/work/home etc...

Improve your balance

• Improve your balance
• Balance is one of the first things to go when you have knee pain, and it's important for many daily activities. If you don't have good balance, it may be harder for you to walk or do some other daily tasks.
• The easiest way to improve your balance is by doing exercises that challenge it. Try standing on one foot while holding a weight in front of you so that it forces your body into a slight lean forward. Hold this position for 30 seconds at a time, then switch sides. You can also try a similar exercise on an unstable surface like foam tiles in the gym or an inflatable ball at home; this will work different muscles and give you more practice using all the different muscles in your legs instead of just relying on one side (which will happen when we strengthen each leg individually).

‍