Keeping Your Knees Pain Free
“Motion is lotion” when it comes to keeping the knee healthy
It seems these days that everyone has patellar tendonitis. Maybe we toss around that term too much, but almost every athlete seems to experience knee pain at some point. If you train hard, if you run around enough, if you squat enough, knee pain seems to be inevitable. But what can we do about it?
Oftentimes you tell somebody about your knee pain and immediately you are prescribed ice and Tylenol to “help with the inflammation.” So many times we’ve seen the image of the pro-athlete post-game with ice bags all over their body. But more recent studies have shown ice may not have the healing capabilities we once thought it did.
Now I’m not here to tell you to never use ice again or never use Tylenol, but there are a couple of other methods that have been used to treat knee pain and personally, it has made a significant difference for me.
Does the phrase “Motion is Lotion” sound familiar? When it comes to our knee pain, especially if it is patellar tendonitis, one of the best things we can do is get the joint moving. If we can increase blood flow to the tendon then it will promote healing, rather than put ice on it, which might delay healing.
Numerous exercises can help increase blood flow to the knee. To increase blood flow to the knee, these exercises will also adequately activate the quadriceps muscles. When the quads are properly activated, they take the stress off the knee joint.
Here are some of the exercises I prefer to help with my knee pain and how to apply them:
Other movements I like are walking backward with resistance, reverse Nordic curls, and leg extensions. I have found the most success when I do these movements before the weight room and before games and practices.
Everybody will experience different levels of knee pain and different injuries. If your knee is injured, it is always best to listen to your doctor's recommendations.
But if you experience regular everyday knee soreness, then instead of just icing your knee all the time and drowning yourself with medication, give these exercises a try. From my experience, it has almost immediately alleviated the pain or at the very least I was able to still perform at a high level. Don’t let your knee pain keep you from performing at your best.
