Having a knee problem, may it be an injury or pain, makes you feel incapacitated to do the usual activities you do regularly. In the event that you are going through medication, therapy or rehabbing in the knee always consult your knee injury doctor to be able to bring back your knee into shape again. This is actually not just for knee injuries, but for any pain that you are feeling in your body. This is to avoid any serious conditions from happening. You will just be surprised at how your situation will turn out after all your hard work in getting your knee functions back.

What Are The Knee Injuries That You Should Be Aware Of?

• If you get a hard fall –> Patella Fracture
• When your knee gets pushed on each side -> LCL and MCL tears
• If you experience an excruciating twisting pain -> ACL tears
• Close to ACL tears -> Meniscal tears
• An injury you get from running, jumping or by falling -> Quadriceps Tendon Tears

Some tears like a patella fracture or even the ligament tears will always need medical guidance and attention. While there are some knee injuries that will have to undergo surgery or intensive medical treatment before you can therapy them on your own.

Why Should You Exercise Your Knees?

The knees are considered to be the foundation of our body movements. It enables us to do the things that we love and to reach places that we like. Having normal functioning knees makes us normal, but if they suddenly encounter problems, everything else is affected. It becomes a chain reaction.

Now, you need to exercise your knees in order to improve its STRENGTH more importantly, if it had been injured or had undergone a knee surgery. Once the muscles on your knees had regained its normal strength again, then it will lessen the knee pains that you are experiencing in your knee joints. It will also prevent your knees from getting injured again or strained.

FLEXIBILITY is also something that your knees should achieve. After strengthening the muscles on your knees, you should do some basic and gentle stretching to lessen the tightness of the muscles. Because once your muscled becomes too tight, it will still be easily triggered by injuries.

How Should You Get Started?

Before you start with your knee therapy exercises, make it a habit to warm up first for about 5 to 10mins like walking or cycling just to kick start your entire knee system. After warming up, you can now proceed with the following routines. See to it that you have consulted your physical therapist or doctor about exercising your knee so they can tell you what routine is best for you to take.

Take time. Start Slow. Establishing muscle strength does not happen overnight. It takes time, so you have to be really patient. The stronger your muscles get, the more exercises you can do.

Take pain seriously. As you do your muscle exercises there shouldn’t be any pain. Probably a little tension because there is a little force applied. In the event that a certain position hurts your knee, stop doing the exercise.

Don’t carry too far. Again, there should not be any pain after doing your knee workout. You can feel a bit sore the following day after your therapy exercises, but not pain. Now if you find any difficulty in moving it means you have pushed your knees’ capacity too far. Rest your muscles until it gets better again.

Always do consultations. Discuss with your physical therapist or doctor about certain pain or uneasy feeling about the exercise. Even how to execute it properly should also be addressed to them.

Muscle Exercises For Your Knees

The Straight-Leg Lift. Lie comfortably on your back while your other leg is bent and the other is lifted slowly from the floor. Let it stay for about 3-5 seconds then slowly lower it down. Do the same routine with the other leg. In doing this exercise, avoid arching your back and do not lift your leg too much.

The Single-Leg Lift. With one chair at your sides, lift one of your legs gently to your front. Put your weight on the other leg as you hold onto each chair to gain your balance. Slowly bend down still the weight on your other leg and let it support you as you gradually push yourself up. Stay in place for about 3-5 seconds and then switch legs. Do the same routine again.

With proper motivation, you can always get your knees to function the way it was before you had that knee injury or pain. With the help of your knee specialist McLean or any certified physical therapist nearest to your area, you will soon find yourself doing the normal activities you have been doing in the past.