“A weak muscle pumps less blood in and out of the joint, which means the knee will not have enough nutrients and over time they will not be able to function properly,” says Mitch Torres, PT, physiotherapist and editor-in-chief of Cracking force. In addition, “strong muscles also act as shock absorbers. They protect the knee joint by absorbing the shock from the floor. Weak muscles will not be able to do this, so the entire shock will be received by the joint tissue. Over time, this also makes them prone to get hurt.”
So when muscles like your quadriceps or glutes are weak, Joseph Rayner IV, PT, DPT, a Texas-based physiotherapist, says your knees can relax and become responsible for an intolerable amount of stress leading to pain.
“When the gluteus maximus and / or gluteus medius are weak, it will require the quadriceps to work harder to handle the demands of an activity,” says Dr. Rayner. “If the quadriceps are also weak, then the patellar tendon will also have difficulty coping with the loads of activity. Eventually, once our muscles and tendons have reached their full capacity, the passive stabilizers of our knees, like our ligaments, will have to take on the rest. of the burden. “
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Note that when dealing with knee pain, the exercises you perform should only cause less pain – no more than three out of 10. And if things do not get better, it’s time to visit a professional.
“If you have pain that starts immediately with or without a pop, and you notice swelling shortly after, you have most likely sustained an injury that should be looked at by a doctor or physiotherapist,” Torres says. “The more intense your symptoms are, the more likely you are to go to a doctor. If you have pain that gradually creeps in on you without a very obvious, sudden event, you may or may not have an injury. In this case. you can see a physiotherapist will probably save you time and money to solve the problem. “
To deal with knee pain due to weak surrounding muscles, the solution – you guessed it – is to strengthen those muscles. Explore a few knee-strengthening exercises to try below.
5 knee strengthening exercises
1. Wall squats
Ryan Balmes, DPT, a board-certified orthopedic and sports physiotherapist and spokesman for the American Physical Therapy Association, says wall squats are good for strengthening glutes and quads. You can either perform a wall quat team or a wall squat for reps. For each, start with your back against the wall and slowly walk your feet out, keeping your back against the wall, bending at the hips and knees until you are sitting in a sitting position where your knees are in line with your hips and your ankles are directly below your knees and point g straight ahead in line with your toes. To hold, just stay in that position for 30 seconds and then get up to rest. Repeat this five times. For repetitions, when you slide down the wall and get into the squat position on the wall, get straight up again. Repeat three sets of ten.
2. Isometric outcome
An isometric exercise is one that is performed by holding a muscle contraction, explains Dr. Rayner. Stand up straight, step one foot back and lower into an outstretched position until you feel a slight level of pain, or until your lower knee almost touches the ground. Make sure your front knee stays in line with your front ankle and that your back knee stays just below your hips. Hold this position for 30 to 45 seconds and repeat three to four times.
See this to learn the correct outcome:
3. Deadlift
Deadlifts help strengthen hamstrings and glutes, and “also help stabilize the knee, so the stronger they are, the safer the joint will be,” says Dr. Torres. Begin to stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and your toes pointing slightly out. Then bend your knees slightly and bend forward at the hips, keeping your back flat, with most of the movement at the hips. Get up again and squeeze your buttocks and glutes to do so.
4. Lateral hip abduction
This exercise is aimed at your gluteus medius. Dr. Balmes says you should start lying on your side opposite the painful leg with your hips and legs stacked on top of each other. Lift your upper leg up, making sure it stays in line with your lower leg and does not slip down in front of you, then lower it down again. Repeat three sets of 10 reps.
5. Side step declines
Work your quads by working backwards with lateral step-downs. Start with one foot on a 12-inch step and the other foot hanging from the side of the step, says Dr. Rayner. Spend about three seconds lowering yourself to the point where you are hanging
the foot knocks on the ground. For the leg that stabilizes you on the step, be sure to keep the knee from arching inward – it should stay in line with your other toe. Perform two to four sets of six to 10 reps.
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