Though arthritis is the most common cause of knee pain worldwide, it is not necessarily the only cause of pain. Poor posture, trauma, fracture, weakness, injury, sedentary lifestyle are some of the reasons for your knee ache and pain. Whatever may be the reason, the stretching exercises play a vital role at different stages of treatment plans in improving your knee joint health. In cases your knee pain is caused by tightness in glutes, hip, or legs, stretching mat alone gets rid of your knee pain. Friendly Stretching Exercises for Knee.
Why incorporate stretches into your daily routine?
Our joints work in tandem with muscles & ligaments to help our daily movements. Knee stretches which target knee muscles and ligaments stretch and strengthen them taking the strain off the knee and making it easier for the knee to perform its functions to keep you more active. For their ability to strengthening the knee and relieving the pain, knee stretches are routinely recommended by the knee replacement surgeons in rehabilitation programs to improve knee health without causing additional strain on the knee.
Here are 3 Joint-friendly stretching exercises for knee that can help you improve your knee health:
- Lunging Hip Flexor Stretch:
As we sit for longer times, the hip flexors can get shortened tightening them over time if you do not include hip flexor stretches into your routine. Here’s how you do a joint-friendly hip flexor stretch to open up your hip flexors:
- Kneel on your right knee while you plant your left foot on the ground backward. Make sure your right knee is parallel to the ground.
- Slightly lean forward to stretch your hips, towards the horizontal floor.
- Tighten your glutes to give you a good stretch.
- Raise and perform the same routine with the left leg and repeat a few times.
- Figure Four Stretch:
Tightened glutes can increase the strain in the quads and hamstrings thereby putting more pressure on your knees. Loosening the glutes help them in engaging better in your movements sharing the impact with other leg muscles and figure four stretch does exactly that:
- Lie flat in you back.
- Raise your right leg, bend the right knee and place your left leg on your right quad.
- Now slowly pull the right knee towards your chest and hold.
- Switch the legs and repeat.
- Standing hamstring stretch:
Hamstrings are another muscle group that often bears the brunt for long sitting sessions which is why most of the knee injuries are caused by tightened or strained hamstrings. Standing hamstring stretch is another simple joint-friendly exercise that can help you stretch your hamstrings:
- Stand up straight on your left foot and stretch your right leg forward.
- Point the toes of your right leg upwards with heels on the floor.
- Slightly bend our left knee like you are trying to sit while hinging forwards at your hips.
- By keeping the left leg dead straight place your weight on the heels of the left leg and feel the stretch.
- Now switch the legs and repeat.
These three join-friendly knee stretches are the basic stretches that can be performed by everyone alike. However, if you are finding it hard to perform these stretches it could be because of an inherent knee problem. But don’t worry, Dr. Chirag Patel at his Sports & joint Clinic in Surat has successfully treated hundreds of knee pain cases. Being one of the top joint replacement surgeons he is also an expert in rehabilitation programs after knee replacement. You can contact him here @Call: +91 7574887777