5 Exercises for Strengthening Your Knees

The knees are absolutely essential for participating in sports, running, walking, and doing day-to-day life tasks. Some people may struggle with chronic knee pain due to injury or weakness. However, there are exercises you can do at home to increase strength in your knees and possibly provide you some relief from pain, tightness, or soreness. Even if you don’t struggle with pain or sore spots, you can still benefit from exercising your knees to avoid injury and maintain your health and performance.

Starting your journey

If you have nagging pain or injury, it may be useful to contact a physical therapist. This may be an investment, but a therapist may be the perfect professional to use their expertise to get you some relief. Many times these professionals can create for you a customized workout plan that will suit your body and personal needs. With that in mind, here are five exercises for knee strength.

Wall Squats

For this exercise, you want to stand against a wall with your back, head, and hips all touching the wall and your feet between hip and shoulder width. Slide down the wall and stop just before you reach a full sitting position, and then press up against the wall. Hold for five seconds, slide back up the wall, and repeat. To do this exercise properly you should fully brace your core and not go too far down the wall.

Knee Extension

To do this exercise, you can sit on a table, desk, or chair where you can let your legs hang off the side and place a towel or other soft object below the knee you’re using. Lift your foot upward until your leg is fully stretched out, and then bring the foot back in a controlled manner. If this is too easy, you may want to add in holding the leg out at the top and bringing the foot back even slower. As you make progress you can start to add in light ankle weights to keep increasing your strength. You can also add resistance by flexing your quadriceps as tightly as you can while your leg is fully extended. Hold for five to 10 seconds before lowering your leg to the floor.

Step Knee Flexion

Use a staircase or sturdy stool to do this exercise. Stand parallel to the step, placing one foot on it and letting the other foot be free to hang below the step. Keep your body weight on the foot that is on the step for five seconds, then bend that knee until your other foot reaches the ground. Repeat five or ten times, then switch feet.

Calf and Heel Raises

Start by using the balls of your feet to push yourself up using your calves, then rolling back onto your heels and lifting your toes up. If you need to use the wall to keep yourself up, that will work. This exercise will work your knees, calves, and ankles for a total lower body exersizes.

Lunges

Place your right foot in front of you and your left foot behind you. Slowly bend your right knee until your thigh is at a 90-degree angle with the floor. Hold for three seconds and return to a standing position. Switch so that your left knee is now in front, and repeat. Do five to ten repetitions. You can also perform this knee-strengthening exercise by lunging while walking.

Important Things to Consider

Try to give yourself at least one or two recovery days in between these exercises so you don’t overwork the muscles or create an injury. Also, if you are experiencing pain doing these exercises, avoid that particular exercise or contact a health professional. There are numerous benefits to building up your knee strength for everyday life and or athletic performance. Give some of these a try while you’re on your journey to living a healthier life.