Knee injuries are any active person’s worst nightmare and many an athlete or sportsperson has had their career ended by an unexpected serious injury. From ACL’s to runner’s knee, knee injuries will at the very least mean some discomfort or, possibly, a lengthy lay-off and in the worst case, a total halt to intense physical activity. You should always seek medical attention when you suffer even a moderately serious knee injury as sometimes improperly rehabilitated injuries can be a strong pre-disposing factor for subsequent serious injuries. Depending on the assessment of your doctor, you will probably be asked to do some physical exercise to rehabilitate your knees after a period of rest.
A lot of people also suffer some serious knee pain and discomfort without actually having incurred a specific injury and in such cases, certain exercises for rehab are highly recommended.
Here are some of the most common exercises you can do to get back on your feet after suffering a knee injury.
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Overhead Squat- Assess Knee Strength
Often, weakness in any of the tissues that are found in the knee or around the knee, will result in some form of compensation by the knee joint. Essentially, this means you will carry out regular physical activities using unnatural and poor form which will eventually, itself, be a pre-disposing factor to injury.
To assess the extent to which your knees might be compensating for any weakness, the overhead squat is a well recommended and popular technique. To do the overhead squat, you start off by performing a regular squat—stand with your feet, shoulder width apart, push your butt out and lower your back until your bum is slightly lower than your knees—but with both hands fully extended over your head. If your knees are compensating for some weakness, they will either subtly buckle inward or cave outward. Either motion will indicate some weakness in the surrounding muscles but when knees cave inwards, it indicates a need for the strengthening of the glutes (butt) and shin, and in the reverse scenario, it might indicate a weakness in the inner thighs and hamstrings. Read on for more details on how to strengthen weak leg muscles.
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One-legged deadlift- Calf & hamstring
This is a really simple exercise to strengthen all the muscles along the back of your leg and you can do it, literally, anywhere. You bend over and touch the ground/your toes with one hand as if you were picking something up, and raise your opposing leg behind you till it forms a 90-degree angle with your standing leg, then return to starting position and repeat. The key to performing this exercise, with good form, is keeping your back straight and your core tucked in. To add some difficulty to this move, hold an appropriately heavy/light dumbell in your hand when you reach forward.
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Isometric Squat- Quadriceps/Hamstrings & Glutes
These are squats without any dynamic movements. You simply squat and hold the position for some time, get back up, and repeat the process. Isometric squats have a strengthening effect on the knee joint and on the muscles around it so you should definitely be doing them for increased knee strength.
When you do squats, make sure that your knees do not extend beyond your toes, to limit the amount of strain being placed on the knees.
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Calve Raises
Do calve raises to strengthen and develop your calves to make running, and other dynamic physical exercises, easier. To perform calve raises, lean with your palms resting against a wall and elevate your body till you’re standing on your toes. Go back down and repeat. Calve raises should be done in a slow and steady movement as opposed to faster jerky movements.
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Swim
Swimming involves a lot of non-weight bearing knee motion and, for that reason, is an excellent activity for people with bad knees. You should swim to aid joint flexibility and .
Exercise tip
Avoid running on hard or uneven surfaces, while recovering from a knee injury. In fact, running on such surfaces is not recommended for anyone, even fit and healthy athletes.
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