Strengthening Weak Knees

Weak knees aren’t only a curse for athletes or gym buffs; they can affect anyone at any time in life. Having weak knees can make you more susceptible to injury not only on your knees, but by making it easier for you to fall or trip, they can make it more dangerous for injuries anywhere.

Stronger knees can help you move better during the day, help prevent painful osteoporosis later in life, and of course help you in your sports performance. But when it comes to getting stronger knees, people tend to get confused – there is no knee muscle’ so how do you make your knees stronger? The trick is to work the muscles surrounding the knee.

The larger muscles around the knee aren’t difficult to work. They’re muscles you work in any typical workout – major muscles like quadriceps and hamstrings in the thighs, and calves and shins. The muscles that get tricky to work are the smaller muscles, especially in the inner and outer thighs. Unless you purposely want to work your thighs there, you aren’t going to go out of your way to do it, but it’s vital to the strength of your knees. Below are some exercises you can add to your routine to help target those muscles, and make your knees stronger.

• Front Leg Lifts: Sitting down, lift one foot up in front of you, straightening your leg. Return to start position. Repeat with other leg. Also try this exercise with a weighted cable machine or a resistance band.
• Sit on a chair and stretch one of your legs out in front of you. Flex your foot and make a large circle with in, in a clockwise direction. Repeat 10 times, and then repeat in a counter-clockwise direction. Repeat with other leg.
• Side leg lifts: Laying down on your side, stack your legs, one on top of the other so that your hips are in line with your shoulder. Lift your leg up to the ceiling as high as you can, then slowly lower down. Repeat with other leg.
• Inner Leg Lifts: laying down on your side with legs stacked, put your leg closest to the floor in front of you. Lift it up towards the ceiling as high as you can and lower back down. Repeat with other leg.

Do all of these exercises for 10 repetitions, building up to three sets.

Adding knee strengthening exercises to your routine isn’t hard and only takes 5 minutes, but it can make such a huge difference into your everyday actions – whether it is walking or football. Be sure to add them to your day and you’ll feel the difference in just a few weeks!