4 exercises that can kill your knees
Sport And Fitness / / December 29, 2020
A person with healthy knees is not afraid of almost any exercise, be it squats with large weights or jumping. The problem is that few people can boast of perfect knee health.
Flat feet, excess weight, muscle imbalances, past injuries, and a sedentary lifestyle are all factors can affect the health of the knee joints, and together with excessive stress, cause pain and inflammation. Below, we'll break down four exercises that can cause knee pain and how to make them safer.
1. Extension of the legs on the simulator
This exercise is goodInhomogeneous Quadriceps Femoris Hypertrophy in Response to Strength and Power Training, Unique activation of the quadriceps femoris during single- and multi-joint exercises, Anatomy, Abdomen and Pelvis, Rectus Femoris Muscle loads the rectus femoris, one of the heads of the quadriceps, but can harm the knees. The fact is that during the extension of the legs, the strained quadriceps shifts the lower legExtensions Good or Bad, Safe or Dangerous, Effective or a Waste of time, Functional or NonFunctional? - Exercise Expert Brad Schoenfeld has the Surprising Answers!, and the anterior cruciate ligament, which resists the shear force, is more stressed.
In this case, the muscles on the back of the thigh, which interfere with the shear force, do not participate in the work, so that the entire load falls on the ligaments. In the long term, this can lead to their damage and pain in the knees.
How to reduce your risk
If you want to swing only the quadriceps, replace the exercise with the leg extension sitting on a chair: it providesPatellofemoral Joint Stress During Weight-Bearing and Non-Weight-Bearing Quadriceps Exercises less stress on the knee joints. Attach a weight to the ankle and extend the knee within a limited range of 45 ° to 90 ° (full extension).
If you just want to pump your hips, replace the extension with polyarticular exercises: squats, leg press in the simulator, lunges.
2. Barrier Runner Stretch
This exercise is used to stretch the muscles on the back of the thigh. During it, one leg is straightened in front of the body, the thigh of the other is laid to the side, and the knee is bent.
This position of the second leg is not only uncomfortable, but also dangerous for the joint. IN book Exercise Physiology Tommy Boone explains that this movement stretches the knee tendon and can cause the kneecap to shift and damage the medial meniscus.
As a result, this stretch causes knee pain and can lead to knee instability, which increases the risk of injury.
How to reduce your risk
Just do not take your other leg back - leave it in front of your body.
This will protect your knee and stretch the back of your thigh just as well.
3. Narrow stance squats
The shoulder squat is used to focus on the quadriceps, the muscle on the front of the thigh. In fact, the only thing that is pumped betterStance width and bar load effects on leg muscle activity during the parallel squat in such squats, these are the calf muscles. The quadriceps, on the other hand, is not strained more than in squats with a medium and wide stance.
At the same time, during squats with a narrow stance of the legs increasesSquatting Kinematics and Kinetics and Their Application to Exercise Performance shear force in the knee joint, which increases stress on the ligaments and can damage them.
How to reduce your risk
Squat with your legs wider than your shoulders - this will reduce the shear force on the knee joints. In addition, watch your squatting technique: do not lift your heels off the floor and try not to wrap your knees inward while lifting.
And don't work with weights until you can do the squat with the correct technique. This will surely protect yourself from knee pain.
Learn to squat correctly🧐
- How to do barbell squats to get results, not problems
4. Jumping high and long
Jumping to a high box or long jump refers to plyometric exercises - movements in which the muscles produce maximum strength in a minimum amount of time. They develop explosive leg strength, increaseEffects of Plyometric Training on Physical Fitness in Team Sport Athletes: A Systematic Review speed and agility, but at the same time put a lot of stress on the knee joints.
Daniel Baumstark, physical therapist and owner of a sports medicine clinic in Washington DC, explainsPlyometric Exercise: Is 'Box Jumping' for Me?that plyometric exercises significantly increase the risk of orthopedic injury compared to other types of training: during landing, the knee joints experienceHip and knee joint loading during vertical jumping and push jerking load 2.4-4.6 times the body weight.
Orthopedic surgeon and researcher Frank R. Noye) saysBEGINNER'S PLYOMETRIC JUMPS: HOW CAN THEY INJURE YOUR KNEES?that repetitive stress from jumping exercises can cause the jumper's knee, an inflammation of the tendon that connects the patella to the tibia.
In this stateWhat Is Patellar Tendonitis (Jumper's Knee)? pain and stiffness appears in the lower part of the patella. At first, pain may occur only during flexion and extension of the knee, for example in squats. But gradually it intensifies and interferes not only with playing sports, but also just walking, climbing stairs or sitting in a car.
How to reduce your risk
To perform jumping movements without harming the knees, you need to have strong leg and abdominal muscles, do not overdo it with a load, and perform movements with good technique.
It is important to land with the correct hips position - they should not curl inward. You can check for this error in squats: if during the lift you cannot keep your knees in place and they wrap inward, you early to move to explosive movements.
Also, do not jump if you have just started exercising, are overweight or have old knee injuries. Except when you are jumping under the supervision of a trainer who will correctly select the load and be able to notice flaws in the technique in time.
If your goal is health and fitness rather than performance in weightlifting, sprint or team sports, strengthen your hips and glutes with other, more safe movements.
Share in the comments after which exercises your knees hurt.
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