what exercise to perform rehab knee injury

Knee Exercises for Knee Pain and Injury Recovery

• Range of Motion. Lie on your back and bend your affected knee 90° with your foot flat against the wall. Slowly slide...
• Stretching Exercises. Face a wall and stand with your rear leg straight and your front leg slightly bent. With you heels...
• Strengthening Exercises. Sit on the floor with your legs straight out in front...

Full Answer

What are the best exercises for an injured knee?

Knee Exercises for Knee Pain and Injury Recovery Range of Motion. Lie on your back and bend your affected knee 90° with your foot flat against the wall. Slowly slide... Stretching Exercises. Face a wall and stand with your rear leg straight and your front leg slightly bent. With you heels... ...

How can I exercise if I have a knee injury?

Jun 16, 2012 · Bend your uninvolved knee. What to do: Tighten the quadriceps muscles of the involved leg by pressing the back of the knee to the floor. Raise the involved leg 6 to 8 inches off of the floor, and then lower it without letting your foot touch the floor. Raise and lower 10 times.

What are some good cardio exercises if you have a knee injury?

Jul 10, 2017 · Your knee is a hinge joint, therefore you want to begin rehab using exercises that only operate on the forward-backward plane that the hinge joint opens and closes on. Less stable exercises (think lunges) should be saved for much later in your recovery process. A simple quad strengthening exercise is a wall squat (as shown below).

What exercise is best for knee pain?

Forward Lunges. Purpose: Great knee rehab exercises to increase knee strength and control. Starting Position: Standing upright, feet pointing forwards. Action: Step forward with one leg and drop your back knee, keeping most of your body weight on your front leg. Push off the front leg to return to standing position.

What are good exercises for knee rehab?

5 Physical Therapy Knee Exercises for Strong and Healthy KneesStraight Leg Raise. Lying on your back, keep one knee bent with your foot flat on the floor. ... Bridge. Lying on your back with both knees bent, feet hip bone distance apart. ... Ball/Wall Squats. ... Step Ups. ... Lateral Walks.Nov 27, 2018

What exercise is good for knee injury?

It is best to warm up with light exercise before starting any knee strengthening exercises. Examples of gentle exercise include walking, cycling, and using an elliptical machine, all of which put minimal stress on the knees. This activity will help increase blood flow to the muscles and allow them to be more flexible.

What exercises should I avoid with knee pain?

High-impact exercises can further injure painful knees. Avoid jarring exercises such as running, jumping, and kickboxing. Also avoid doing exercises such as lunges and deep squats that put a lot of stress on your knees. These can worsen pain and, if not done correctly, cause injury.Dec 18, 2020

Should you exercise with knee pain?

You sit for long periods of time Some good exercises for people with knee pain include walking, swimming, and water aerobics. Exercise strengthens the muscles around your knee and helps support the joint. At Coastal Empire Orthopedics, we can help you find the best exercise to keep you moving, even with knee pain.

How to improve knee flexion?

Performing heel slides is a great way to improve your knee flexion range of motion. (Flexion is the ability for your knee to bend fully.) To perform the heel slide exercise: Lie on your back. Slowly slide your heel up towards your bottom, allowing your knee to bend as far as possible.

How to get your knees to extend?

To improve knee extension (straightening) range of motion, you can perform the prone hang exercise : Lie on your stomach with your leg over the end of your bed. Allow gravity to slowly pull your knee into full extension. Hold this position for 15 to 30 seconds, and then bend your knee up. Repeat 3 times.

What to do if you have a meniscus tear in your knee?

Jonathan Cluett, MD. on May 26, 2020. If you have a knee meniscus tear, you may benefit from a physical therapy exercise program to rehabilitate your knee. Working with a physical therapist (PT) can help you regain maximal knee range of motion and strength and can help you return to your normal optimal level of activity.

How to prevent knee surgery?

Research even shows that participating in physical therapy for a meniscus injury may help you avoid surgery for your knee. 1  Your PT may use various modalities and treatments to control your pain or knee swelling or to improve the way the muscles around your knee contracts and supports the joint. Exercises should be a major component ...

Can exercise cause knee pain?

Exercises should not cause any extra pain in your knee. Before starting this, or any other knee meniscus exercise program, check in with your doctor and physical therapist to be sure exercise is safe for you to do. 1.

What muscle is used to straighten the knee?

Quadriceps Exercises. Your quadriceps muscle, or "the quad," straightens your knee, and it supports the joint and your kneecap. After a knee meniscus tear or injury, your physical therapist will likely have you work to improve your quadriceps function so your knee joint is adequately supported.

How to recover from a meniscus tear?

Exercises should be a major component of your knee rehab program after a meniscus tear. Physical therapy exercises in the clinic, and as part of a home exercise program, can help you recover fully from your meniscus injury.

How to stretch a knee?

2. Passive Knee Flexion. Insert your foot through the loop of an exercise strap and lie on your stomach. Gently pull the strap handle until your knee is flexed to the point of tightness. Hold for 5-10 seconds and then relax. 3. Passive Knee Extension . Sit on the floor and fully extend your affected knee.

How to get your knee to stop hurting?

1. Wall Slides (best to wear socks) Lie on your back and bend your affected knee 90° with your foot flat against the wall. Slowly slide your foot down the wall by bending your knee as far as possible. Hold for 5-10 seconds and then slowly help raise the affected knee back using the healthy leg. 2.

How to strengthen hamstrings?

Hamstring Strengthening. Connect an exercise strap to your ankle and to a wall or stationary object. Sit in a chair, facing towards the wall or stationary object, and straighten your affected knee. Flex your knee and bend it to 90º.

How to get your knee to extend?

Sit on the floor and fully extend your affected knee. Place a pillow under your ankle and a weight over your knee. Allow your knee to reach full extension by relaxing your muscles.

How to stretch your calf muscles?

Calf Stretch. Face a wall and stand with your rear leg straight and your front leg slightly bent. With you heels on the floor, lean towards the wall until the calf muscle in your rear leg is tight. Be sure not to bounce and hold the position for 10 seconds and then relax. 6.

How to get rid of a swollen knee?

Place a pillow under your affected knee (place a weight on or around your foot or ankle for more resistance). Tighten your thigh muscles and lift your heel off the ground without lifting your knee off the pillow. Keep your knee straight and hold for 5-10 seconds.

How to get your knees to cover your toes?

Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart . Keeping your feet straight, bend your knees until they barely cover your toes when you look down. Make sure to keep your weight mostly on your heels and your back straight. Return to a standing position so your knees are almost straight, but not "locked".

How to stretch knees?

What to do: Slowly slide the foot of the involved leg down the wall until the desired degree of stretch is felt in the knee. Use the other foot to help remove the involved leg from the stretch.

How to pull a knee?

Cover as much of the knee as possible, be sure there is warm heat on the front of the knee. Keep the heat on for 5-8 minutes. Start with the stretching exercises the go on to the strengthening exercises. None of the exercises should ever be painful. Gentle stretches are all you need, a good “pull” feeling but not pain.

How does warm up help your body?

Your muscles work their hardest only at a certain temperature. Exercising before your muscles are warm can lead to injury and set back your recovery. In addition to finding out how your body is doing that day—are you sore or stiff—warming up gives you these benefits: 1 Warm muscles protect you from injury while doing the exercises. 2 You get the most out of the time spent exercising. 3 You mentally prepare yourself for the exercise ahead.

What is the range of motion of the knee?

Full range-of-motion in the knee means you should be able to bend it from 0° (straight) to 130° (bent) and straighten it from 120° (bent) back to 0° (straight). It’s also important for you to understand the anatomy of your knee so you know what your knee bones, ligaments and tendons can and cannot do while you’re doing the exercises.

What muscles do you use to bend your knees?

Muscles: Quadriceps. Position: Sit on a chair or the edge of a bed with your knees bent. What to do: Slowly straighten the knee of the involved leg to the count of two, and return to the bent position on a count of four. As you get stronger, add an ankle weight on the ankle to increase the difficulty.

How to get your butt straight?

Position: Lying on your back or sitting on floor or bed with legs out as straight as possible. What to do: Bend and straighten your knee by sliding your heel toward your butt and then back to your starting position. Keep your foot flat on the floor or bed.

How to get rid of a swollen knee?

Position: Sit all the way back in a chair with your feet flat on the floor. What to do: Scoot forward in the chair while keeping your feet firmly on the floor. You should feel a stretch along the front of your knee. Then slide back in the chair to the starting position.

How to recover from knee injury?

Additionally, most physiotherapists will tell you that one of the easiest ways to recover from injuries, and prevent them from occurring in the first place, is to lose weight. The less fat you have, the less pressure you will have on your knees. The more leg muscle mass you have, the stronger your knees will be.

What muscles attach to the knee?

There are several main muscles that surround the knee. The first set is the Quadriceps muscles, which are grouped on the anterior side of your thigh and attach to the knee via the Quadriceps Tendon. On the posterior of your thigh you have the Hamstring muscles, which attach to the knee via the Hamstring tendon.

How to strengthen quads?

A simple quad strengthening exercise is a wall squat (as shown below). To begin, you may use only a slight bend in your knee, and then progressively deepen your squat as you build strength. Immediately post-injury you may not have the ability to perform even shallow squats, so feel free to use leg extensions.

How to activate glute max?

A Pointing Dog exercise is a great way to activate your glute max, as well as to improve your knee extension for better ROM: If playback doesn't begin shortly, try restarting your device. Videos you watch may be added to the TV's watch history and influence TV recommendations.

Is the knee joint a hinge?

As I mentioned in the previous section, your knee joint is a hinge, meaning that it opens in one direction only. However, it is also classified as a “slave” joint, because it operates down the kinetic chain from your hip, which, as a ball-and-socket joint, has much great range of motion.

What are the bones of the knee?

The bone structure of the knee is made up of the Femur (thigh bone), the Patella (knee bone) and the Tibia (shin bone). There are two types of ligaments in the knee. The Collateral ligaments (MCL and LCL) are found on the sides of your knee, while the Cruciate ligaments (ACL and PCL) cross over the knee.

How does sleep affect HGH?

In other words, the more you sleep, the more HGH you will have in your system, and the faster you will recover. Along with sleep, it is crucial that you are getting enough rest between workouts, especially when training atrophied muscles that you are just starting to rebuild.

What is knee rehab?

Knee rehab exercises aim to increase muscle strength, flexibility and control. This helps reduce knee pain, stiffness, weakness, instability and swelling caused by injuries, long-term knee problems and surgery. Here you will find a general programme of advanced-level knee rehab exercises working on strength, flexibility and balance.

How to improve knee strength?

Purpose: Great knee rehab exercises to increase knee strength and control. Starting Position: Standing upright, feet pointing forwards. Action: Step forward with one leg and drop your back knee, keeping most of your body weight on your front leg. Push off the front leg to return to standing position. Repetitions: 10-30x on each leg.

How to do a squat in a squat?

Starting Position: Stand upright with feet hip width apart, toes pointing forwards. Action: Slowly squat downwards as far as is comfortable without letting your knees go forwards over your toes. Then return to starting position. Repetitions: 10-30 repetitions.

What is the purpose of squats?

Purpose: Squats are one of the best ways to improve knee strength and abolish pain. They target the hamstrings, quads and buttock muscles. YouTube. HEP2go Inc. 1.62K subscribers.

How to do a tennis ball?

Knees should be slightly apart (tennis ball width) Action: Clench your buttocks and lift your bottom off the bed as high as you can without arching your back. Then lift one leg up.

How to reduce knee pain?

Another effective way to reduce many causes of knee pain is to improve the flexibility of knee muscles by stretching. Most people have tighter muscles than they should. To see if you have a problem check out some simple stretching tests or skip straight to stretching exercises.

Can exercise cause knee pain?

Exercises should feel challenging but not aggravate your pain. Find out more in the Exercising at the Right Level section. You should always see your doctor before you start any knee rehab to get an accurate diagnosis, but once you get the all clear, you’re ready to begin.

How to improve knee flexibility?

People who enjoy cycling, yoga, and running often opt for this easy-to-perform exercise to improve knee flexibility. Stand on a single leg. Bend your right leg at the knee and bring you heal back to your buttocks. Reach around your body to grasp your ankle with your opposite hand.

How to treat knee pain?

Improving Your Knee Health. Some mild forms of knee pain can be treated at home. Simple stretching exercises bring much-needed relief. Stretches for knee pain are simple to perform and require very little time per day. Even if your knee stops hurting, daily stretching can prevent future bouts of discomfort. I highly recommend PT for knee pain.

What are the common knee injuries?

Common knee injuries include sprains, meniscus tears, ligament tears, and fractures. Most injuries can be treated with simple bracing and a focused physical therapy (PT) knee rehab program.

How to improve range of motion?

Swing your left leg left to right in front of you. Undertake a linear swing to improve your range of motion. Place a hand on your abdomen so you can monitor the motion of your pelvis because your abdominals will contract as you move your leg. Swing your leg and repeat with the right leg.

How to stretch your ankle?

Lay on your back. Bend your affected knee and grab your ankle. Pull your ankle back so that the bottom of your foot is on the side of your knee. Grab your foot and pull it towards the floor so it is along the outside of your top thigh. Hold the stretch for at least 20 seconds. You will feel the stretch nicely.

How to strengthen quadriceps?

Straight Leg Raises are simple and will strengthen your quadricep muscles. This is one of the simple exercises that do not put pressure on your knee. Lie on your back on the floor. Bend your knee so your left foot is flat on the ground.

Can you do straight leg raises on your stomach?

This exercise is like the Straight Leg Raises but you do it on your stomach. Many people find it beneficial to first do the Straight Leg Raises and then roll over to perform the Prone Leg Raises.