Knee pain and problems can result from injury, overuse, or age. Strengthening your knees and keeping your knee joints in proper working condition is necessary to ensure not only comfort as you walk and climb stairs, but helps with the overall proper alignment of your body, including hips, back, and shoulders. Therefore, keeping your knees in good working condition is essential. Here are 3 exercises to help strengthen your knees.
Hamstring Curls
Hamstring Curls work the muscle group that is located in the upper quadrant of the back portion of your leg. These muscles connect your hips to your knees and are necessary for walking, climbing, biking, running, and jumping. There are a number of ways to perform this exercise, including standing, sitting, lying on your stomach, or on your side. The key movement is to create a hinge motion in your knee with your legs hip-width apart as you raise your foot toward your buttocks. As you progress with this move, you can add resistance bands or ankle weights for more tension.
Step Exercises
The simple motion of walking up and down a steps is essential to retaining and strengthening mobility the knee. This exercise can be performed in your home just like it sounds, by walking up and down the bottom step of your stairs. Once this motion has been mastered, consider walking up by placing the side of your body toward the stairs and performing a lateral motion. Remember to always work both legs and consider adding hand weights as you become more comfortable with this motion.
Squats
When people hear squats, they tend to shy away from this exercise, but squats can be performed in a variety of ways depending on your level of comfort. For beginners, it is suggested that they start with wall squats. Putting your back against the wall and your feet out in front of you, slide up and down the wall. To be sure you are performing the exercise correctly, be sure that your knees come out over your toes as you raise and lower yourself. Once you have mastered this technique, start to pull yourself away from the wall to perform this exercise. The final stage would be to perform this exercise with hand weights.
The process of strengthening your knees and mobility takes time. Find a few minutes a day to work on one or more of these exercises. Remember to be patient and add complexity and weight slowly. If you’re already experiencing issues with your knees, we can help. Request an appointment by visiting Hampton Roads Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine online. We look forward to seeing you!
