"Dr. Janson, What advice can you give a patient for managing knee pain?"
The top priority is to stretch your hamstrings because tight hamstrings can lead to knee pain. The hamstrings are the muscles located at the back of your thigh. If these are tight, it can cause you to distribute your weight incorrectly.
You want to keep your knees straight, because this is stronger. This way your weight goes on the bones, versus the muscles doing the work.
So stretch out your hamstrings. You've got to stretch, stretch them out! I recommend a slant board. Also helpful is a toe touch with straight knees. If you cannot touch your toes, don't worry. Just hang your hands down.
Additionally, it's important to strengthen your anterior muscles, specifically the quadriceps at the front, as this muscle is responsible for straightening the knee. How do you strengthen your quadriceps? Well, there are three parts of this muscle, one on the outside of the front thigh, one on the inside, and the last is in the middle. Keep this in mind while you are strengthening the muscle.
Let's first strengthen the outer quad. I refer to this as the "Doggie wee wee" move. Move your leg up and away. Do ten repetitions of this exercise.
The middle one lacks a cool name. Keep your knee slightly bent to avoid injuring it. Avoid doing it with straight legs; instead, keep them slightly bent. Perform ten repetitions of this exercise. This is a simple leg lift. As you get stronger, try to hold it up a bit before lowering it.
I refer to this exercise as the soccer kick. Why? Because it strengthens the inner quad. So, perform the soccer kick. Move your leg up and towards the other leg. Do ten repetitions of these.
Therefore, the three exercises are outer, middle, and inner parts of the muscle. This is how you strengthen your quads.
So hamstrings, stretch them out. Like that.
You want these muscles to be long and flexible.
Anterior muscles, your quadriceps, make this strong. You want power in these muscles.
By keeping your knees straight, let your bones do the work, and shifting your weight smoothly over them, your knee will feel better. It's straightforward. Try to do these exercises everyday. It will not cure your knee pain, but will make it more bearable.
If you want to see the video click or copy this link: https://youtu.be/rlIWP_1N3vw
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