Knee pain is not uncommon among people who exercise. Whether you’re recovering from a weightlifting injury or you get sore knees from running, it can be difficult to train as normal when you have pain in your lower body. And, of course, the knees are among the most important joints in the body, transmitting force and movement from your hips to your feet and vice versa, so are therefore involved in many forms of exercise.
“Knee pain is one of the most common musculoskeletal complaints and can have a big impact on your quality of life if it’s left untreated,” explains Helen O’Leary, a physiotherapist and the director of Complete Pilates. “A number of muscle groups help to keep the knees working well, but when one muscle gets injured, or it loses strength, it can throw the whole system around and make your knees out of balance, meaning you’re more likely to suffer pain or injury.”
Strengthening the knees to deal with and prevent injury is often about targeting the muscles around the knees, including the quads and the hamstrings. It’s also important to stretch out the iliotibial band, known as the IT band, which runs down the outside of the thigh, particularly if you get knee pain from running.
Here are five exercises that you should incorporate into your workouts, warm-ups or cool-downs if you suffer from knee pain…
Bridge
The bridge is a common movement used in pilates and O’Leary explains that it’s great for helping knee pain as it strengthens the muscles in the back of your legs which support the knee.
Here’s how to do it:
- Lie on your back with your legs a comfortable distance away from you, around a foot away from your bum.
- Let your hands rest by your side, gently pressing palms down into the floor.
- On an exhale, press down into your heels and allow your hips to lift off the floor. Try to let your shoulder and upper back stay rested on the floor, as if they are hanging off your legs.
- Reach your knees forwards over your feet to open the hips and pause at the top for an inhale.
- As you exhale, gently pull your heels to the ground and let your spine come to rest on the floor.
Thigh stretch
“This is one of my favourite exercises as it seriously strengthens the quads and hip flexors while challenging the core and your body awareness,” O’Leary says.
Here’s how to do it:
- Sit in a high kneel position on a soft surface.
- Reach your hands out in front of you so that they are parallel to the floor, palms facing each other.
- Press your feet and shins into the ground to send your pubic bone forwards. This will help you activate around your pelvis and create a stable base.
- On an exhale, slowly start to hinge backwards from your knees – you will not need to go far here. Try to keep your body in a straight line rather than allowing the upper back to extend.
- Inhale at the bottom of the movement before exhaling, pressing into the feet and returning to upright. You should feel this in your quads.
Assisted squat
“This is a great exercise and can be done using a bannister, someone’s arm or even a door handle,” O’Leary says.
Here’s how to do it:
- Stand with your legs shoulder width apart and feet slightly turned outwards.
- Inhale as you sit your weight backwards towards the floor. Your arms are here to slightly support you so that you can sit the weight back.
- Pause when the back of your thighs are roughly parallel to the floor.
- Exhale and press into your heels and gently pull down and towards your with your arms to come up to standing.
Mini sideways step-down
“If you have bad knee pain, you have probably come down the stairs sideways at some point,” O’Leary says. “Turning this into an exercise and finding the control is a great way of strengthening the leg and outside of the hip. Try doing this on your bottom step and using the handrail for support.”
Here’s how to do it:
- Stand facing the handrail and press your whole foot into the floor on the standing leg.
- Allow the other leg to slide off the side of the step, making sure your pelvis remains level as you do this.
- Slowly lower your foot down towards the floor, allowing the standing leg to bend as you do this. Pause at the bottom and then press down into the floor to come up to fully straight in your knee and body. You should feel the front of your thigh working at the end of the movement as well to fully extend the leg.
Suitcase squat
O’Leary explains that loading the patella tendon is an important part of preventing knee pain as it’s attached to the quads, which help to support the knee. “Getting comfortable sending your knee over your toes will help you when you go up and down stairs or are walking up and down hills,” she says.
Here’s how to do it:
- Stand with your feet directly under the middle of your groin – this means not as wide as the outside of your hips.
- Imagine you have two suitcases on either side of you. Send your knees forwards and bend to pick them up before pressing back up to fully straight. You should try to stay upright in this movement as you are aiming to get your knees forwards.
Quad stretch
“Often, we get pain in the front of our knees or feel a lot of pressure there,” O’Leary says. “Stretching your quads can help relieve this feeling at the same time as opening your hips and offloading weight from your knees.”
Lean on something soft while doing this exercise and find a wall or something to balance on if you need it.
Here’s how to do it:
- Start by getting down on one knee, with something soft underneath the back leg – imagine you are proposing.
- The back leg will be the one you are stretching. Keep this in line with your hip joint and do a pelvic tilt inwards.
- As you tuck your tailbone under you will feel a stretch in the front of your thigh. If you are doing this well and maintaining it you shouldn’t be able to go very far.
- Release the tuck and you will let the stretch go. To increase this, you can lift the same side arm up towards the ceiling and gently side bend to the opposite side.
- Repeat this a few times before switching sides.
Images: Getty