How To Exercise If You Have Bad Knees

• Tweet
• Pin It

Bad knees hurt, and you may be doing yourself more harm than good if you continue to exercise. But there are still people who simply cannot stop. They continue to exercise even with bad knees.

You can exercise with bad knees without causing more problems to yourself. That is the truth. But you must know how to protect yourself and make the most out of your exercise routine. Although most of the top health magazines continuously write essay help and guide on avoiding aforementioned topic however in this article we will discuss ways to go about it to help individuals in such situation.

Exercises harmful to your knees

There are exercises you should avoid if you have bad knees. They can make it difficult for your knees to heal, or even cause more damage.

• Squat

Squatting exercises involves excessive flexing, and thus, not a good option for individuals with bad knees. Deep squats, for example, increase the stress on the knee joint and could cause more pain and problems for you.

• Jumping

If you have been doing high jumps before, know that things have to change when you develop bad knees. High-jumping with bad knees is painful and risky at the same time. And remember it is also a high-impact exercise that can shock and place more stress on your knee joint, especially when you land on the floor.

• Hurdler’s Stretch

Hurdler’s stretch is a great exercise that most people love to do, but not to individuals with bad knees. You do not need stress because of your knee condition, and hurdler’s stretch involves bending of your legs, which puts more stress on the ligaments in your knee joints.

Tips to prevent knee injuries

Knee injuries can occur as a result of several factors. It could be as a result of an acute injury sustained a long time ago, or repetitive motions during a workout that stressed the knees behind the limit. However, one thing that also contributes to increased cases of knee injuries is age. Below are some of the most suggested tips by popular magazines writers department to help you prevent knee injuries during a workout.

• Warm up

Never start exercising without a proper warm up. Your body needs it more than you think. Stretch the muscles in the back and front area of your thigh. This helps to relieve pressure on your knees by decreasing tension build up on the tendons.

Before you engage in exercises that can stress your knees like squats, you have to warm up properly.  If you also plan to do a leg press of say, 200 pounds, start with something lighter then work your way up.

• Consider your knees when doing cardio

Running on a hard surface with an existing knee injury can aggravate the condition. It will pile too much pressure on your knees, and lead to injury.

Instead, get a stationary bike that reduces pressure or stress on your knees. You should also consider making an adjustment to the stationary bike to suit your needs.

• Position your knees properly while exercising

You can suffer a knee injury if you don’t position yourself properly while exercising. If you are performing squatting exercises, for example, squat on the balls of your heels and not your feet. Learn the right position to assume to prevent injury and benefit from the workout.

Exercise modifications for bad knees

Bad knees make it difficult to exercise but not impossible. In fact, you can perform some of the exercises that originally would put more pressure on your knees by tweaking them a little to your favor. Below are some of the exercise modifications for individuals nursing bad knees!

• Squats

You can’t think of leg moves without including squats. Even though they may not be suitable for someone with bad knees, they are a must do.

Modification: Avoiding traditional squat that can stress or put more pressure on your bad knees. Get a ball and place it between the wall and your mid-back. The pressure on your joints will reduce even as you work your lower body.

• Lunges

Lunges are great to achieve toned legs. They help to work leg muscles and get your glutes fired up. The dreaded of all lunges to avoid when having bad knees is the forward lunges. Instead, consider reverse lunges.

Modification: try the reverse lunges even without adding weights initially. These are much better and easier on your bad knees. Once you have gained confidence in the move, then you can start adding weight.

Conclusion

It is possible to exercise with bad knees as we have been able to point out. But, not all exercises are possible with it. The tips and modifications in this post can help you perform your leg moves even with bad knees. And don’t forget to assess your condition while working out.

• Tweet
• Pin It