What’s wrong with my knees!?
Is your knee cracky? Sharp ’n’ jabby? Constant toothache? So-swollen-it-could-drown? Or is it just a grouchy, sore knee that stops you walking, running, doing steps and exercising? If this sounds like you – read on.
5 winning tips for beating whining knees.
1. Stop squatting
Really. It’s probably not helping. Squats send 4-5 x your bodyweight through your knee. So when your knee is painful, squats may just make your pain worse and this means your muscles don’t work well.
2. Ride a Bike
Bike riding is close to 1.5 x bodyweight load on your knee – so you should get a decent thigh muscle workout without the big pain! Start small – 10-15mins and build up slowly.
Stop squatting. Really. Its probably not helping.
3. Tape it up
Tape works for lots of different types of knee pain. It’s not a ‘silver bullet’ but it can help reduce pain and this can help you get back to running around with the kids or not looking at a flight of stairs with suspicion.
4. Get a better bum
You don’t need a Kim Kardashian but making your bum strong helps knees. Why? You need to control your thigh bone movement from your hip joint and the best way to do this is…yep – bum muscles. So essentially better bums = better knees.
5. See a good physio
No hard sell here, just facts. I’ve treated over 10,000 knees in 20 years as a physio and I get a real buzz from seeing my lovely patients hit their goals and get out of pain and into what they miss doing.