Knee pain has the ability to throw you off your routine and make you feel sick in no time. Arthritis knee pain can cause extreme discomfort and disrupt your daily life . Committing to medicines that help in relieving pain is important, but once the effect of the medicine wears off, the pain is bound to come back. This is where the muscle strengthening exercises come into play. These exercises can easily help increase the blood flow and also help bring much better flexibility to the muscle joints, which can help elevate the pain to a greater level.
In this article, we will look at some of the exercises that can help relieve arthritis knee pain. These exercises can be combined as a home workout session and can be done during breaks in work hours.
Make sure to do at least a 10-minute warm up and cool down routine before and after the exercises. This will help you steer clear of muscle soreness and pain.
Exercises to Relieve Arthritis Knee Pain
1. Standing Leg Lifts
Standing leg lifts help bring stability, flexibility, and balance to the body. It targets the outside glute muscles. This exercise helps improve posture, and it is important to have a good posture as it can directly help reduce the amount of impact on the knee.
How to do the exercise:
- Pose up against a wall.
- Raise one leg out to the side while keeping the toes pointing forward or slightly inward.
- Take care not to slant to the side that is still.
- Lower the leg.
- 15-20 times on each side.
2. Leg raises
These exercises help improve the strength of the quadriceps. The quadriceps are the large muscles in front of the thighs that attach to the knee joints.
How to do the exercise:
- Toes up, flat on your back, arms at your sides, on the floor or in bed.
- While tensing the muscles in your leg, keep your leg straight and slowly lift it a few inches.
- In order to lower your back, contract your abdominal muscles.
- Hold for the count of five, then lower your leg as gradually as you can.
- Repeat after which change to the other leg.
- Do it for 10 each side and gradually increase.
3. Sit and Stand
This exercise again targets the front muscles of the thighs, the quadriceps. The repetitive movements help bring better motion to the knee and build the overall strength of the leg. Once the exercise is done regularly, it eases the pain.
How to do the exercise:
- Place your feet flat on the ground while sitting upright in a chair.
- Cross your arms across your chest.
- Slowly raise yourself upright.
- Sit back down gradually.
- Keep doing this for one full minute.
4. Lying Hamstring Stretch
The hamstrings are the muscles on the back of your thighs that connect to your knees. This exercise helps stretch the muscles and bring better movement to the knees over time. Make sure to do it on one leg each time.
How to do the exercise:
- With your legs bent, lie on the floor or bed.
- Bring your knee back toward your chest as you slowly lift one leg while keeping it bent.
- Straighten your leg and join your hands behind your thigh, not your knee.
- You should feel a stretch as you pull your straight leg toward your head.
- Hold for 30 to 60 seconds before lowering your leg back to the ground by slowly bending your knee.
5. KickBacks
Kickbacks are exercises that require you to stand, and they improve the leg muscles and also help reduce the overall stiffness of the knee and the leg. It targets the hamstring.
How to do the exercise:
- Straighten your body out.
- Bring the heel of one foot toward your buttocks by lifting it and bending the knee.
- Then lower the leg after a brief hold.
- The posture should be straight, and the knees should be in line.
- Repeat each repetition 10–25 times.
- Perform these exercises a few times a day.
6. The Clam
The clam is an exercise that is primarily used to strengthen the buttocks. It easily strengthens the glute muscles. This can help relieve the knee pain, as the reason for it can be because of the weak buttock muscles.
How to do the exercise:
- Lay on your side.
- With the shoulders, hips, and feet in alignment, bend the knees and hips to a 90-degree angle.
- Hold your feet firmly together.
- As high as you comfortably can, raise your top knee; then, gradually lower it.
- Repeat on the other side while holding the stretch for 3 to 5 seconds.
- Try to perform this 10 to 25 times per day, twice.
7. Half Squat
This exercise helps strengthen the front and back muscles of your thigh, along with the glutes. Make sure to start slowly with 10 repetitions and then gradually increase the repetitions.
How to do the exercise:
- Stand with your feet shoulder distance apart and stretch your arms out front.
- Bend your knees slowly and come to an almost sit position. If you want you can take the help of a chair for support.
- Make sure to keep your back straight and chest lifted upward, do not lean in.
- Hold the half-sitting position for at least 10 seconds and then repeat the same movement.
8. Lying Down Quadricep Stretch
It targets the muscles in front of the thighs. If lying down exercises are not very comfortable, then you can go ahead and replace this exercise with any of the above exercises. This exercise helps improve the knee's range of motion.
How to do the exercise:
- Position yourself so that you are facing down.
- Front support can be provided by placing the right forearm.
- Grab the ankle or shin with the left hand while bending the left knee.
- Lift the knee slowly until it stretches just enough to be felt.
- Hold for a few seconds.
- Repeat a few times on each side, then switch sides.
Regularly doing these exercises can help improve the flexibility of the knee and reduce the pain. So, make sure to exercise regularly to benefit from it for a long time.
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