Knee health encompasses promoting and maintaining adequate strength and mobility. Let’s break down these two simple concepts in regards to the knee.
1️⃣ Full knee Mobility:
- Knee flexion: 120-130 degs
- Knee Extension: 0 degs
- Tibial Rotation: 5-10 degs
Mechanoreceptors within the joint cavity feed off perception of movement. They send afferent responses to the cortex (frontal lobe of the brain), thereby helping to increase blood supply to the joint.
The meniscus ( C-shaped cartilage) sits in between two bones and provides cushion to the loaded forces we apply to the knees throughout the day. Maintaining full mobility within the knee joint increases the blood supply to the cartilage and decreases perception of pain.
Here are a couple of simple mobility exercises you can try to help facilitate knee mobility and improve joint health.
- Active Assisted Heel Slides
- Tibial Rotation in half kneeling
2️⃣ Quadricep Strength
Developing adequate strength in your quadriceps are very important in maintaining good knee health. Strengthening the quadriceps helps to take stress off the knee cartilage and prevent osteoarthritis down the line.
- Terminal Knee Extension -> placing the knee in full extension (locking the joint) and fully engaging the quadriceps help decrease stress on the joint capsule.
Think about all the times throughout the day a person transitions to and from standing
- getting out of bed
- sitting – standing from a toilet seat
- standing from the dining room table
- Getting in and out of a car…..etc
- We need our quadriceps to lessen the load on our knees!!
Here are a couple of exercise variations you can use to help strengthen your quads and improve your overall knee health.
- Standing Terminal Knee Extension with Mobility Band
- Standing TKE with Single Leg Stance
- Step-Ups with Eccentric Control
Our goal at Vital Rehab Physical Therapy is to provide long term lasting results by focusing on the root cause of your problem, not just your symptoms. We help build long term lasting results, not just make your pain go away.
Call us today for a free 20 min phone consultation with a Doctor of Physical Therapy so we can get you back to doing the things you love without the burden of pain.
This free call has helped 100’s of people understand what’s going on and what they need to do to break the cycle of persistent pain, start getting results, and has the power and potential to do the same for you.
Call Today! 929-488-5969.
