Hey everybody its Doctor Jo and Kali and Bear, and today we're going to show you
the 10 best stretches for knee pain. So let's get started.
So these 10 best stretches are the 10 best, my
favorite that I found works best for me, works best for my patients. There's no
scientific proof behind it, it's just the ones that I found that really work
because all these muscles either cross the knee joint, or come to the knee joint,
so they really need to be stretched out to help relieve that pain. So the first
stretch is going to be patella mobs, and you can see here, that's the kneecap. The
kneecap or the patella is connected by this patellar tendon, and it comes up in
a connects to that quad muscle in that quad tendon, and the reason it's so
important to have that moving well is because it sits on that knee joint, and
if everything's tight in there, and that patella is not moving well, it puts extra
pressure on that joint, so it's a really great way to help stretch out, really
doing mobilizations, but to get it moving to help relieve that pain, so let's take
a look. For patella mobs, put your legs straight out, and try and relax your
muscles as much as you can. If your muscles are tight, you're not going to be
able to move that kneecap, so relax the muscles and then push out and in,
and then you can go down and up.
Stretch number two is kind of a stretch slash exercise, but it's a really great
way to help bend your knee and this is a heel slide. Heel slides help get that
flexion if you have a tight quad, this kind of helps stretch it out and a nicer
way versus just a regular stretch, so just sliding it up and down not only
helps loosen up the joint, but it helps loosen up some of those muscles around
it, so let's take a look at that. For heel slides, lie down on the ground and prop
your knees up, then just slide your foot all the way out and then come back up.
Number three is a calf stretch with a strap, and the important reason to
stretch the calf muscles is as you can see here, they come up and they cross
that knee joint, so when that muscle here is tight, it pulls on that knee joint. It
makes it painful, so when you're stretching that calf muscle out, it helps
relieve that tension and pressure on the knee, so let's take a look at that
stretch. For a calf stretch with a strap, you can use a belt or dog leash, take the
belt and put it just at the bottom of your foot,
relax your ankle, and then pull towards you holding that stretch.
Number four is a hamstring stretch in long sitting, and the reason it's so
important to stretch those hamstrings is it's kind of the same with the calf
muscle, if you look at the hamstrings here they cross that knee joint the
other way, so again when those muscles are really tight, they put a lot of
pressure on that knee, so it's really important to stretch those muscles out
as well, so let's take a look at that. For a
hamstring stretch in long sitting, put both legs out in front of you, then bring
the leg you're not going to stretch up towards your side, keep your foot pulled
up towards you to help lock out your knee, try and keep that knee straight the
whole time. You're going to go forward at your hips, but try not to curl your back,
just move at your hips with your back straight and hold that stretch.
Number five. So number five is going to be a hamstring and calf stretch combo, so
you're using a strap this time and you're stretching them both together, so
just like I showed you before since both of those muscles and tendons come across
that knee joint, you really want to stretch those out to help take the
pressure off the knee because when you take the pressure off the knee, that
helps it feel better, so let's take a look at that one. For a hamstring
stretch in supine with a strap, you can use a belt or dog leash. Take the belt
and put it at the ball of your foot, straighten out your leg as much as you
can, you want that knee to be straight so if it bends then bring it back down a
little bit, pull your toes towards you and bring it up till you feel a stretch,
and hold it.
Number six, IT band stretch. So the IT band, or the iliotibial band, is one of
those mean muscles slash bands. It comes all the way up to the hip here, and
attaches up here ,and comes all the way down past the knee, so again as you can
see there, it's one of those muscles tendons that cross that joint, so when it
gets really tight, it not only can affect the knee, but it can affect the hip and
if it affects both of them, there's a whole lot of pain, and if you've ever had
IT band pain, you know is it's a real it's a real mean one, so let's take a
look at that stretch. For an IT band stretch in supine with a strap, you can
use a belt or a dog leash if you have one. Put it around your foot anywhere
that's comfortable, keep your leg as straight as you can
locking out that knee, and then dropping your leg over to the side until you feel
a stretch through here. Hold that stretch.
Number seven, a quad stretch. So going back to that kneecap there, the quad is
up here and it attaches to that kneecap coming through over there, so when that
quad muscle is really tight, again it comes and attaches to that whole knee
area, so when it's tight it makes it so it's really hard to bend that knee, or if
you've bend that knee, it really pushes that knee cap into the joint and it can
cause a lot of pain, so by stretching that out, that helps as well, so let's
take a look at that stretch. For a quad stretch in prone, lie on your stomach
take a belt or a dog leash and wrap it around your ankle, then pull it over your
shoulder, and pull until you feel a stretch, then hold that stretch.
Number eight is a butterfly stretch to stretch out the groin area.
So in here, the groin muscles are on the inside of the legs, now even though they
don't necessarily come and cross the knee joint, when they're tight and not
working properly, they can affect the way you walk and really cause some pain in
that joint, so stretching out that area is really important for the knee as well,
so let's take a look at that stretch. For the butterfly groin stretch, put your
feet together and let your knees drop out to the side, keep your back straight
and lean forward while pushing your elbows down on your thigh. If you need
more of a stretch, bring your heels in.
Number nine, a hip flexor stretch. So the hip flexor has a lot to do with helping
out the quad muscles, so again it's one that doesn't necessarily cross over the
knee joint, but it has a lot to do with helping out how your body works, how you
walk, how you function, so if it's tight it can not only cause a lot of hip
tightness, but it can cause a lot of knee tightness and pain as well, so it's
really important to stretch as well, so let's take a look at that one. For a hip
flexor stretch in the lunge position, the side that you want to stretch is going
to stay down. Bring the other leg forward so you look like you're in the lunge,
keep your upper body nice and straight, so not leaning forward, but keep it up,
and then lean forward with your hips until you feel a stretch through there.
Hold that stretch.
Number ten is a side lunge stretch, so this is going to get those adductors,
those inner thigh muscles, and you're groin a little bit too, so again just
like we were talking about, these muscles are on the inside, but when they're not
functioning properly, they're tight, they're you know just not moving well, it
causes a lot of pain in that knee joint, so they're equally as important to
stretch out, so let's take a look at that stretch. For a side lunge stretch, spread
your feet out past your hips, bend the knee of the opposite side you want to
stretch, so stretching this side bend this knee.
You can put your hands on your hips.
So there you have it, those are the top 10 best stretches for knee pain. If you
have any questions, leave in the comments section. If you'd like to help support my
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subscribe to our channel by clicking down here, and remember be safe, have fun,
and I hope you feel better soon.