Knee Strenghting Exercises

Think about how much work your knees do every day – they help you walk, run, stand up, sit down and more. Even when you’re just standing still, your knees are responsible for bearing about 80 percent of your body weight. With this kind of workload, the knees are very vulnerable to injury, but you can help protect them by doing exercises that will strengthen surrounding muscles.

Quadriceps

• Your quads, the long muscles on the front of your thighs, connect at the top of the knee joint. Keeping them strong will help prevent cartilage deterioration behind the kneecap. Body weight squats are one of the easiest and most effective quadriceps exercise. Start in a standing position with your feet slightly farther apart than your hips and your toes pointing out. Tighten your abs to stabilize your core and bend at the knees. Your hips should be moving down and back and your thighs should be parallel to the floor at the bottom of the movement. Keep your knees over your ankles with your buttocks sticking out and your back flat. Stand up and repeat.

Hamstrings

• The muscles on the back of your thighs, the hamstrings, also connect to the knee joint and help provide stability. Develop these muscles by doing forward bends. You may also strengthen the hamstrings by using a stability ball to do a hamstring curl. Lie on your back with your feet and lower legs resting on the ball. Place your arms out to the sides. Engage your core and slowly raise your hips off the floor. Keep your legs and torso in a straight line while only your shoulders and head rest on the floor. Bend your knees, using your feet to bring the ball closer to your hips until points on your heels, hips and shoulders form a straight line. Now slowly move the ball away from your hips, keeping your core tight, until your legs are straight.

IT Band

• Your IT band is the connective tissue that runs along the outside of your thighs from your hip bone to your knee. According to the director of the Running Injury Clinic, Dr. Reed Ferber, the IT band is almost always responsible for side knee pain. To strengthen it, lie on your back with both arms outstretched. Your shoulder blades should be down and your back should not be arched at any time during this stretch. Put your feet one on top of the other, with the heels of one foot touching the toes of the other. Rotate the hips, bringing the inside of the top foot to the floor as far as you can while keeping your trunk as flat as possible. Hold the position for 15 to 30 seconds, then switch feet and turn to the other side.

Calves

• The muscles on the back of your lower legs extend up to provide additional support for the knee joint. Strengthen your calves with the use of a resistance band during a seated calf stretch. Sit on the floor with your back straight and both your legs extended in front of you. Wrap the resistance band around the sole of one foot, holding both ends securely. Slowly pull the band toward you while keeping your heel and knee on the floor. As your toes move toward your body, you’ll feel the stretch in your calf. Hold the position for 15 to 30 seconds and then repeat for the other foot.