Why investment in your knee is important even when in pain

Man running down grassy waterfront.

Why investment in your knee is important even when in pain

Our knees have a large role in force absorption and force production during movement. All of us will experience some knee pain through our knees in our lives. When we experience issues it’s important that we have some sort of exercise routine in place to strengthen our knees to reduce our pain. When we experience knee pain we tend to worry and this worrying leads to more sedentary behaviours. Being sedentary may reduce our pain in the short term, but our long term knee health can suffer. Here’s why it’s important to continue exercises for your knees even when you’re in pain.

Strong knees = healthy knees

When are knees give us problems it can be because they’re not strong enough to put up with the demands of the task. Often times people can experience pain while walking downhill, after periods of prolonged squatting, or after returning to sport after some time off. We have to train up our knees to tolerate the demands of these tasks. Starting off with some mild strengthening exercises can be really beneficial to get the ball rolling. You may experience some pain with these exercises but that isn’t always a bad thing. When performing exercises it’s normal to experience some pain. We like to work on the 0-10 scale of pain that everybody knows. With 0 being no pain at all and 10 being the most excruciating pain you’ve ever felt. While performing exercises we would normally suggest working within a 4/10 pain limit. You may feel some pain but it’s not going to be debilitating or cause you to break down. Over time you’ll get stronger and you’ll find your knees getting stronger as well.

Don’t let that knee pain come backMan running down grassy waterfront.

Once you start a bit of strength work for your knees you’ll tend to notice improvements in function and decreases in pain. It’s important to keep the ball rolling at this stage. Once you’ve become accustomed to putting your knees through some easy strength exercises you can either add weight to these exercises or progress each exercise. Stopping exercise once the pain goes away is only a short term fix and it’s likely you’ll experience knee pain again in the future.

If you would like to improve your current knee function, or if you struggle with knee pain, book a knee rehabilitation appointment at Pivotal Motion. Book an appointment with the physiotherapist Brisbane knows for their knowledge and great service online or call us on 07 3352 5116.

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