Gym Exercises

In order to protect the knees from potential or actual injuries it is vital to strengthen the muscles which support the knees. Knee exercises should be used to strength the muscles gradually over a period of time to help prevent injury.

Knees which have weak or unused muscles are more prone to tears in the muscles, tendons or ligaments. When the muscles are tight they can easily pull the knee out of alignment and therefore after strengthening exercises it is vital to follow with stretching exercising to reduce the tightness, paying careful attention not to overstretch as this can also cause a muscle tear.

The whole purpose of doing knee exercises is to build up the muscle tone and help the knee to become more robust. As there are different sets of muscles which connect to the knee exercising it is important not to exercise the same group or set of muscles on consecutive days to begin with, this will help the body to recover and reduce the risk of accidental tears. Strengthening exercises can be carried out between two and four times a week, however, stretching exercises can be carried out more frequently.

During any knee exercises when pain is experienced it is an indication that the exercising has been too strenuous and all exercising should be stopped, pain is the body’s natural way of saying ‘enough’ and everyone should listen to what their body is telling them.

It is normal to experience a little stiffness and aching after beginning knee exercises, but it is unwise to be complacent and ignore pain. If pain is experienced applying an ice pack wrapped in cloth can speed up healing and help reduce swelling and inflammation.

A good ’stand by’ if there is not an ice pack available, is to use a bag of frozen peas wrapped in cloth this will work quite effectively. Wrapping the ice pack in cloth is required to help reduce the risk of ice burns on the skin and ice packs which are applied directly to the skin for long periods of time can also lead to forms of frost bite.

Simple knee exercises include laying with the leg out straight and tensing up the thigh muscles, attempt to push the knee down and raise the heel, hold this position for five seconds. When doing this simple knee exercise try not to tense the muscles in the buttocks. To check if you are doing this exercise correctly look and see the front of the thigh muscle tensing and the knee cap move.