Knee pain can strike you when you least expect it. The cause could be related to an old injury, certain exercises, a rainy day, pretty much anything. If you’ve got knee pain, first things first: check in with your doctor to learn what activity you can and cannot do and discuss ways to improve mobility in your knee. Then, check out these tips from Sharita Jennings, fitness expert and creator of GetFitLikeThat.com on relieving some pain before your next workout.
1. Start With a Warm Up
The warm up is arguably just as important as the workout itself. The best warm up will help pump more blood through your muscles to get them ready to work. You can knock out knee pain by adding light cardio to your warm up. Start with a light walk or jog, add shallow squats, and work up to jumping jacks. Your warm up should also include dynamic stretches, which are stretches that you don’t hold, but instead keep the body moving– like spider lunges, walk out planks (with straight legs), and toe touches to activate the muscles that support your knees. By the end of your warm up, your joints should feel less stiff, meaning less pain during and after your workout. Try this warm up routine on for size.
2. Don’t Miss Leg Day
To keep knee pain at bay, you should pay extra attention to the muscles around your knee. The muscles in your thighs give serious support to your knees. The tighter or weaker these muscles are, more pressure your body will put on your knees.
You can strengthen your quads with a seated leg lift machine, wall sits or your basic squats. You can work on your outer thighs with outer thigh lifts and side kicks. Finally, hit the back of your thighs, or hamstrings with deadlifts, with or without weights.