A set of exercises to strengthen the knee joint

Legs are what wears our whole life, they are under tremendous stress. And the maximum load is experienced by the leg flexion and extension joint - the knee joint, which is very fragile. To keep him safe, it is necessary to strengthen his muscular corset.

And if discomfort and aching pains appear in the knees, then it is worthwhile to get an examination with a doctor as soon as possible, since many diseases of the knees are easily treatable at an early stage. And, of course, protect yourself from injury. Knee injuries are among the most painful and long-lasting to heal.

Types of Knee Injuries and Pains and Their Causes

The two most common causes of knee pain are the thinning of cartilage tissue from disease and old age and injury.

There are several types of injuries:

1. Injury. Easiest type of injury. It damages only soft tissues. Symptoms are similar to other knee injuries: hematoma, swelling. It is not dangerous in itself, but sometimes it is necessary to release the accumulated blood surgically. In any case, a doctor's examination is necessary.
2. Damage to the menisci... A very serious type of injury, to get it you need to apply great force, for example, make a strong jump, therefore this injury is peculiar only to athletes. Or very elderly people, as their bones are very fragile. With normal movement, it is almost impossible to damage the meniscus. It can burst, crack or burst, which is the worst thing. If the meniscus is torn, it may not be possible to return to running. Symptoms are similar to bruising, but worse and loss of mobility.
3. Sprain. The most common running injury. Most often it happens due to an unsuccessful fall and with sudden movements. Despite the fact that only soft tissues are affected, the injury can be quite serious. Symptoms: swelling and bruising, but the pain will be so severe that it is almost impossible to move the leg, let alone walk. The treatment takes about a few months.
4. Ligament rupture. If you hear any clicks and crunch when the joint moves, this is not necessarily a fracture, it may be a ligament rupture. The injury is pretty serious.
5. Dislocation of the joint. This is a displacement of the joints, which entails stretching and even tearing of the ligaments that hold them. It is accompanied by acute pain, severe edema and hematoma. Often this displacement can be seen visually through the skin. The patient may feel numbness in the limb, and there is no pulse below the knee. The dislocation must be corrected immediately by a specialist.
6. Fracture. A knee fracture is called a fracture of the kneecap, which, as a shield for muscles, often cannot withstand the onslaught of a hard blow and crack or break. The fracture can be horizontal, vertical, displaced, comminuted and osteochondral. It is manifested by acute pain, complete restriction in movement, edema and visual deformity. You can see how the patella has moved. X-rays will confirm the final diagnosis.

The first step in case of injury is to immobilize a person by putting it on a flat surface, apply ice wrapped in cloth to the knee, and do nothing else until the arrival and examination of the doctor. In addition to diseases, the causes of injury are old age, wrong shoes, wrong running technique.

Patellofemoral pain syndrome

This diagnosis is made by an orthopedist. The name of the syndrome comes from the Latin word patella - patella. It is one of the most common causes of knee pain besides injury. This is one of the varieties of osteoporosis - fragile bone syndrome.

It manifests itself in the destruction and inflammatory processes in the cartilage tissue. Most often it affects the elderly and athletes, especially runners, as they often wear out the knee joint prematurely.

It is customary to subdivide into 3 degrees:

1. Rare aching pains caused by overexertion
2. Symptoms become more frequent and a feeling of stiffness appears. Sometimes you have to stop moving for the pain to subside
3. Quite severe pain in the knees that restrict a person's movement and sports

If nothing is done, the cartilaginous component will begin to seriously deteriorate and deform, which will already lead to arthrosis of the knee joint.

Pain syndrome of the muscles of the lower extremities

If a person's legs hurt, then you need to see a doctor. And before going to him, figure out exactly where it hurts and what is the nature of the pain.

Pain can be:

• stupid;
• aching;
• sharp sharp;
• constant and fading;
• sudden;
• periodically appearing and disappearing (most often with the onset of rest);
• the heel of the hip, joint or knee can hurt.

Pain can be associated with overexertion and injury, as well as with developing diseases. May indicate a problem with blood circulation in the legs, pinched and inflamed nerves, cartilage and bone disease, muscle damage and inflammation.

Why should you strengthen your knee joint?

Many knee problems can be avoided by strengthening the knee joint. The knee is the largest joint in the body and its structure is very complex, the slightest displacement from the place is increased by the weight of the whole body and pulls the muscles and ligaments along with it.

Conventionally, the knee consists of the end of the femur, the patella and the top of the tibia, which are held together by many muscles and cartilage. Strengthening these muscles will make the knee more resistant to dislocations and dislocations as you run. The most important thing is to strengthen the gluteal muscles, quadriceps and popliteal muscles.

A set of exercises to strengthen the knee joint

Before starting the exercise, to avoid injury, be sure to warm up the muscles. Here are three types of exercises that will be very beneficial for your knee joint:

Racks

1. Stand on one leg. This exercise is originally from China. There he is called "the golden rooster on one leg." It is to strengthen the muscles of the lower leg. It consists in standing up straight and bending one leg and standing as much without support as possible. Repeat at least 5 times. If one leg is much weaker, then it is worth doing it more often on that leg in order to further strengthen it. When doing it, it is worth making sure that the hips are strictly parallel to the floor.
2. Stand on an unstable surface. You can complicate the previous exercise by standing on a loose surface. The BOSU hummock trainer is perfect for this. At home, you can replace it with a thick pillow. To resist on such a surface, the muscles that support the knee are more involved.
3. Blind stance. Over time, you can further complicate it by closing your eyes. In this case, the vestibular apparatus is also involved.

Jumping

In order to run without harm to your knees, you need to learn how to jump correctly and land correctly after jumping. But you should be as careful as possible to the jumping technique, because wrong jumps will only harm. It is necessary to land on springy knees, landing on straight legs after a strong jump, you can get injured.

To start, you can just jump up:

1. On one leg. Over time, it's time to start making jumping harder. Start jumping on one leg alternately.
2. Arrow. To do this, you need to imagine a square of about 30 by 30 cm. And jump around it clockwise and back.
3. Diagonally... On the same imaginary square, you can jump diagonally.
4. .With a skipping rope. Some people prefer to jump rope, so the tension of the calf muscles increases and the jumps become higher.

Squats

With squats, too, everything is not clear. The wrong squat technique can kill your knees, but the right one will strengthen them, provide blood flow to them and prevent stagnation. When doing squats, the main thing is to keep track of where the center of gravity is.

The biggest mistake is to shift it towards the knees. The center of gravity should be strictly in the pelvis. When doing squats, you need to do it just like sitting on a chair. The shoulders are laid back, the back is straight. The knees should not wobble, twist and go beyond the toe line.

It is preferable to do the exercise in front of a mirror at first. At first it will be difficult to follow all parts of the body at once at this moment, but over time, the technique will get better and will be performed blindly.

The stress on the knees while running is inevitable. But you should not deprive yourself of this pleasure, you just need to be attentive to the preparation of your body and the knee joint as well.

To minimize his injury, you must:

• strengthen the muscles supporting the knee bones and cartilage;
• choose the right shoes for sports;
• follow the exercise technique;
• eat well.

Watch the video: 10 Best Knee Pain Exercises Ever Created Stretches u0026 Strengthening (November 2024).