hey everybody it's doctor jo and pretty miss remy, and today i'm going to show you five
ways to relieve an achy knee. so let's get started. With an achy knee, a lot of times
just some simple stretches and exercises help. so the first one we're going to do is a quad
set. this is just a cut up piece of noodle to give me a target for my knee. you can roll up a towel.
you don't even have to have anything underneath, but it's i like it because it gives you a target
to push down on. so a lot of times when you have an aching knee, your quad is either tight, weak,
or both. and so this just kind of helps start getting those muscles activated a little bit.
so with a quad set, this thigh muscle on top here what you want to do is keep your heel down. a lot
of times people kind of pull up like that, but that's a different exercise. try and keep your
heel down, and then push your knee down into the roll or the towel whatever you have it on. so i'm
pushing down. you can see that big first time i pushed my my knee was shaking a little bit because
i'm pushing pretty hard. now if you have an achy knee, you might just want to activate that muscle
a little bit, and you should see this muscle kind of tighten up and activate. if you don't see it as
much, that just might be because it's a little weak, and that's what's causing that achy knee.
when you go down and squeeze in, hold it for about three to five seconds, and then relax. so this
movement is what we would call like an isometric movement where you're contracting the muscle, but
you're not making a big movement that might cause more pain. so these should be pretty pain-free.
they might be slightly uncomfortable, but they shouldn't be painful. so nice squeeze there and
then relax. so then the next one is going to be a heel slide. so with the heel slide, what we're
doing now is trying to bend that knee and get some motion in the knee. so you can do it sitting up.
i'm going to lie down and show you just because a lot of times if the knee is a little achy or
painful, you want to be as relaxed as you can. so a heel slide is kind of just like it sounds,
you're just going to slide your heel up towards your bottom. so if your leg is out straight,
you just want to slide it up this way. now if you have a really achy knee, you might only be able
to get to here before that knee starts feeling tight and a little bit painful. and that's okay.
and then just slide it back down. as you can see, a lot of times if you do this without shoes on so
you have socks to slide on the surface that makes it a little bit easier. so again just
like it sounds it's a heel slide you're sliding that heel up towards your bottom, getting that
bend in your knee, getting that motion that helps. if you feel like it's really tight, a lot of times
you can just use a strap. you can put it around your foot, you can wrap it around your ankle,
but you're just using that strap to kind of help slide that heel up. again it shouldn't be super
painful. you're trying to do these to get rid of some of that pain and that ache in there,
but sometimes if you're not as much actively doing it but you're assisted assisting it or assistive
movement, that helps um make those muscles relax a little bit, and then it's not quite as painful.
so then after you've done those, we're going to go into a hamstring stretch. with the hamstring
stretch, especially lying down, i like doing the lying down once with a with a strap because
it helps support your back. a lot of times if you have some achy knees, it's going to go all the
way up into your hips and your back, so if you're lying down that kind of helps support your back.
i also like to bend the other knee up when i'm doing this. some people keep the leg straight,
and that's fine, that'll help give you a little um hip flexor stretch on the other side,
but again i like to prop mine up just because it takes a little pressure off of your back.
you're gonna use the strap to pull your leg up. so i'm not just lifting my leg up actively,
i'm relaxing my leg, but i want to keep my knee straight. so sometimes to do that
if you pull your toes up towards you, that kind of helps lock out that knee. but i'm the the muscles
are tightening to lock it out, but i'm not still not actively lifting up that leg. i'm just pulling
with that strap to stretch out those hamstrings right there. and so this is going to be a 30
second hold. and the reason that you want to stretch out the hamstrings is because those
hamstrings cross that knee joint. so a lot of times if they're tight you're going to have an
achy knee because it's going to be putting extra pressure on there. so again that 30 second hold,
relax, shake it out for a little bit, and then do that three times in a row. if you feel like
you don't have enough time to do three of them, make sure you're still doing that 30 seconds.
so if you have to just do one or two, make sure you're doing that full 30 seconds holding that
stretch because that's really what's going to help relax those muscles in there. so then the
next one is going to be an it band stretch, and it's called an it band stretch, but it's really
you're trying to stretch out the tensor fasciae latae, which is the meaty part the band is the
part that goes all the way down and again it crosses that knee joint. so if it's tight, if this
even if it's tight up in here in the hip area, it might cause some of that that knee pain and
that neat achiness. so this one you do want to kind of slide that other leg down just to get it
out of the way, but one of the big things that i like to tell people is you want to keep your hips
down. sometimes people will come up, they'll bring their leg over, and they'll lift their bottom up a
little bit, but then you're not quite getting that it band, tfl, the tensor fasciae latae stretch.
so still keeping that leg straight still pulling up those toes a little bit to help lock it out.
this time don't come up quite as high probably as you would with the hamstring stretch,
but i like to put my hand just kind of on my hips right here to make sure that i'm keeping it down,
and then you're just going to gently bring it across your body right here. if you're not getting
much of a stretch here, try a different position. so maybe a little bit lower you'll feel it,
or maybe even if you're a little more flexible and your hamstrings come up a little bit higher
and drop it over. but again, if you're bringing up that hip, then it's probably not going to be quite
the stretch that it needs to be. so i'm going to take a second to take my thumbnail picture
and you can take it along with me if you want to. so same thing with the IT band stretch, you want
to do it for 30 second holds, and then do that three times. so then the last one is going to be
a quad stretch. so i'm going to flip over onto my tummy, so i'm going to switch legs just so i can
still see you, and so it'll be the closest side, but you would just then turn over onto your tummy.
so a lot of times with the strap, i like just kind of bringing it over my shoulder here,
and then if you're on your tummy, make sure you're relaxed you can lie all the way down if you want
to. but i'm just going to prop up a little bit so i can see you, but make sure you're not
stressing out your back while you're doing it. the strap now can be kind of around your ankle area,
and then i'm just going to start pulling my my heel towards my bottom until i feel a stretch.
so now you're you're going to feel it on that quad, that quad in the front that we were working
at the beginning. so now we're stretching it out, now if you've got an achy knee, you might
only be able to get to about right here, and that's that's fine. you want that stretch to be
slightly uncomfortable, but not painful because you want to be able to hold it for
that 30 seconds without tears coming down your face. so just you know a little get there till
you feel that stretch, and again um you know it shouldn't be painful just slightly uncomfortable,
and then holding that for 30 seconds and doing that three times.
oh, so there you have it. that was five ways to relieve an achy knee. if you'd like to help
support my channel, make sure and click on the link up there, and don't forget to subscribe,
Where Remy? yeah down there. and remember be safe, have fun, and i hope you feel better soon.