Sore knees can be a huge burden and could significantly affect your mobility. Hence, building stronger knees should be a priority for everyone especially if you are a sportsperson.
One way to avoid sore knees or if you want to ward off injuries to your knee is to build solid, strong and fluid muscles in your core, legs and around your knees.
You have to incorporate knee stretches together with targeted exercises into your routine to enhance and revamp those sore knees.
Why is stretching is Important?
The importance of stretching cannot be understated. Flexibility and strength go hand in hand especially if you don’t want to have sore knees. Knee stretches and exercises that improve both flexibility and power will benefit you greatly.
Although exercises that strengthen the knee improve the muscles in that region, however, they also make the muscles tight – especially when they aren’t properly stretched.
Constricted muscles tighten the knee joints making them more injury prone. To avoid this, you have to stretch after performing your knee exercise as it’ll relieve muscle soreness. In addition, it’ll also make the muscles elastic and long.
Here are some of the knee exercises you can do to avoid sore knees:
Knee Extension
- Get a desk or table to sit on and make sure your legs hang freely.
- Make your knee a little bit higher than you hip by placing a thin pad beneath it.
- Flex your foot and slowly extend your knee till your leg is fully extended.
- Hold this position for about 5 seconds.
- Repeat the process on the other leg.
Knee Flexion (standing)
- You’ll need to stand on a small step or a 2-inch board for this stretch.
- The thighs should be in line with the upper body. Next, bend the knee until it’s at a 90o angle before lowering it down slowly.
- Flex your foot all through the stretch and ensure your thigh doesn’t leave the table during the stretch.
- Repeat on the other leg.
Heel and Calf Raises
By strengthening your calf muscles, you’re also helping your hamstrings which in turn helps your knee, giving it stability and greater support.
- Stand on an aerobic step or a 2-inch board.
- Your heels should be on the floor while the balls and toes of your feet should be on the board.
- Ensure your entire body is balanced or you can hold on to the wall for support.
- Raise your toes upwards – as high as you can – before lowering it down slowly.
Wall Squats
- Make sure you stand with your hips, head and back against a wall, and your feet should be hip-width apart.
- Bend your knees slowly as you slide along the wall until you get to a sitting position.
- Hold this position for about 10 seconds then come up slowly.
Swimming
If the gym is not a place you look forward to going, then you can try the outdoors.
As luck would have it, swimming is one activity that has a great impact on the knee. There are several styles that you can try from the front crawl, treading water, backstroke and more. On the other hand, you can just use a flutter board to kick laps.
