So You Have Knee Pain? Start here.
Do you have knee pain with exercises like squats, running, lunges? Or maybe your knee hurts when you go up and down the stairs. Either way, it's super frustrating. And if you’re reading this, you’ve probably tried a ton of different exercises to fix it. If you google “knee pain exercises” you will get a ton of different exercises to choose from. It’s like drinking water out of a fire house. Rather than having to sift through all those random knee experts drills, let’s go over a basic fundamental that most don’t realize about their knees and it could be a game changer to improving knee mobility, strength and overall health.
Here it is: Your knee NEEDS to be able to internally rotate.
Here’s another revelation: Almost every patient I see with knee pain can’t do what? Internally rotate their knees.
How would you know if this applies to you? Well a few common things I will see when assessing clients with this issue is:
Can’t bend your knee ( knee flexion)
Feet turn out when you squat down (Lack of IR in lower limb)
Knees are always locked out
High foot arches
So if any of those apply to you..what can you do about it?
The simplest start point is TEACHING the knee how to move first, then integrating exercises that will help that movement STICK long term.
Here is a series of drills I give to patients dealing with knee pain. If you do these everyday consistently I can confidently say your knees will start feeling better!
Here’s a simple three step approach:
We start by mobilizing the knee joint: We want to open up range of motion but also let the brain know that it is safe to move this area so that we can train it!
Knee CARs 3x5 each side
We then want to contract the tissues that help it move. With pain, isometric drills are amazing at strengthening the area but also at decreasing the pain!
We then want to follow up with some active movement of the joint to use the new found range of motion in your knee! Below is a great drill to do just that!
I hope this sequence of exercises makes sense to you! We mobilize, stabilize, and then strengthen. This is a foolproof way to start your journey of getting out of pain and getting back to what you love doing!
Need more help? Reach out to schedule an assessment! We would love to help you! Or if you know anyone suffering from constant, nagging knee pain send them this blog! We hope to help as many people as possible!
