Knee pain is a condition that has become common for many active adults. Whether you like to engage in CrossFit exercises at the gym or you’re a competitive athlete, this condition could put a damper on your routine. It has impacted 18 million people each year. This condition could be caused by overuse of the knees, osteoarthritis, or sprained knee ligaments. How can you combat your knee pain relief in Canal Winchester?
One great way of treating your knees is through exercises designed to strengthen and ease this pain. These knee pain relief exercises target key muscles that are all important to the knee joint. We offer this form of knee pain relief in Canal Winchester to our patients. Let’s discuss in detail about these exercises and how you can perform them today.
Banded Terminal Knee Extension Exercise
This exercise is great for alleviating knee pain due to a torn meniscus or ligament, tendinitis, and jumper’s knee, just to name a few. The Terminal Knee Extension (TKE) exercise could help improve the strength of four muscles of the quadriceps. These four separate muscles are known as:
- Vastus lateralis
- Vastus medialis
- Vastus intermedius
- Rectus femoris
These muscles are found in the front of your thighs and assists in extending the knee joint. With the use of resistance bands, the TKE exercise helps move the knee from a partially bent position. Fix the resistance band to a stationary object and the other end around the back of your knee. Step backward to create tension in the band. This allows your knee to pull forward. Next, flex your quad hard and drive your heel down to straighten your leg.
Clamshell Exercise
The clamshell exercise is another effective exercise for knee pain relief. It targets the hip abductors, specifically the gluteus medius muscle. This muscle lies on the outer edge of the buttocks and is responsible for stabilizing your pelvis. This makes this exercise great for strengthening your hips, which is very important to your knee joint’s health.
The great thing about this exercise is that a person could do it anywhere with minimal equipment. Athletes who are involved in sports where running is involved could especially benefit from the clamshell exercise. You start doing this routine by laying on your side with your legs stacked and bending your knees. Rest your head on your lower arm and use your top arm to steady your frame. Engage your abdominals by pulling the belly button in. With your feet still touching, raise your upper knee very high without moving your hips and your lower leg. Pause and lower your upper leg back to its starting position. Do 20 reps of this on each side.
Glute Bridge Exercise
This next exercise is great for strengthening the three gluteal muscles — gluteus maximus, medius, and minimus. These three muscles are important to your hips flexibility and movement. The cause of a lot of knee and foot injuries normally lies in the hip area. That’s why you must strengthen your hips to lower your knee pain chances.
You perform this exercise by first laying with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor. Be sure to keep your arms at your sides with your palms down. Lift your hips from the ground, making a straight line out of your knees, hips, and shoulders. Make sure you are squeezing those glutes hard and keeping your abs drawn in. Hold this position for a couple of seconds before lowering back down. The key to doing this exercise right is feeling the burn in your glutes and hamstrings. The glute bridge exercise is also great for strengthening your lower back as well.
Single-Leg Rear Deadlift Exercise
The last knee pain relief exercise you must try is the single-leg rear deadlift exercise. This routine requires the need to be balanced and stable. Like the glute bridge, the single-leg rear deadlift exercise could strengthen your hamstrings, gluteus maximus, and medius. It also targets the ankles and the core. These muscles, particularly the gluteal ones, are important to the knees’ health.
Stand with both feet under the hips. Shift your weight to the right leg, which should be straight and the knee slightly bending. Lift your left foot to the rear against the wall behind you. Make sure you are keeping your leg straight while lifting it. Keep your arms straight at shoulder height.
Are You Looking For Knee Pain Relief In Canal Winchester Ohio?
These knee pain relief exercises are beneficial because they target certain muscles that are important to your knees. We at Peak Physiotherapy and Performance offer these corrective techniques for knee pain relief in Canal Winchester. Contact us to schedule a free phone consultation today.