hey everybody it's Doctor Jo and miss Kali,
and today we're going to show you the 10
best knee arthritis exercises. so let's
get started.
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and click on the link up there. so the
first exercise I really like especially
with knee arthritis. if you're already
having a lot of pain, you want to start
off with just some gentle stuff, so quad
sets are one of my favorites because
you're starting to activate the muscle,
but you're not really getting a whole
lot of movement that's painful. for quad
sets, I usually like taking a little
towel and rolling it up or you can use
something just like a pool noodle just
to give yourself a target. you don't have
to use that, but I feel like you can get
a better activation of your quad muscle
if you're pushing down into something,
but you can definitely just do it
without anything. so all you're doing is
just pushing that knee down into the
roll the towel or the floor to contract
that quad muscle. you're activating that
muscle. you want to keep the heel down.
sometimes people say well you know I'm
squeezing it down like that, but then
their heel comes up. for this one you
really want to try and keep the heel
down. you're just squeezing everything
you should be able to see your muscle
contract a little bit, and you want to
hold it for about 3 to 5 seconds and
then relax. so with this one if you have
a lot of knee pain that arthritis pain,
you might not see a big contraction like
that, or it might hurt a little bit when
you're pushing really hard. so just start
off with maybe 50 percent of what you
can push and just squeeze it down, hold
it, relax, do about 5 or 10. and you can do
these a couple times a day. so this is
just a great way to start getting that
muscle activated and working. so another
one of my favorites is a bridge. bridging
does a great job of working the muscles
around the knee, around the hips, and the
low back. and a lot of times when you
have arthritis in the knee or anywhere,
the the pain is going to be a level
above and a level below. so working your
hips and lower back as well it's going
to help because if you're having
pain in your knee, you're gonna change
your walking pattern which a lot of
times will cause other things to hurt.
so with the bridging, you're just going
to bring your knees up and get them
maybe about hip-width apart, and then
just bring your hips up while you're
driving your knees forward. so it's not
just whipping the hips up, but kind of
coming up one segment at a time as
you're driving those knees forward. so
you're coming up this way to about level.
sometimes you might not be able to get
that high to start off with, that's
fine, and then just nice and slow, one
segment at a time, coming back down. so
you don't have to stop, but each segment,
you don't have to go you know like that,
you can make it smooth, but really try
and roll up and down pushing those knees
forward. that's gonna help activate the
glutes and the hamstrings that have a
lot to do with the knee. so again if you
just come up that much to start off with
because maybe it hurts a little bit or
it's hard to do, that's okay. just work
your way to getting all the way up to
here and slowly coming back down.
sometimes people do cramp up and the
hamstrings a little bit when they do
these, so again start off slow. don't just
go right into it because you might get a
little bit of cramping back there. again
start off with maybe ten, you can do two
sets of ten a couple times a day. so then
you're gonna go into hip abduction. you
can do this with a band.
I like the loop ones just because
they're easy to get on, but just put it
right above your knees. and so this time
still with your knees propped up, you're
just gonna kind of roll them out. you
don't have to go all the way out. you
just go to your comfort level, but the
key is to slowly control it coming back
in. so you're not just going out and then
like that. but really control that coming
in. and that's gonna work those outer
muscles around the knee. and so again
sometimes you might feel a little pain
out there. with knee on arthritis you're
gonna have a little bit of pain in the
beginning, and that's okay as long as it's not
sharp really hard pain. maybe a little
bit of achy pain, that's pretty normal.
that arthritis is gonna hurt a little
bit, but the more you do, the better it
should get. so really nice and controlled
with the movement. nothing fast because
if you're going fast you're just using
momentum. so just start up again maybe
about ten of them, do a couple sets. you
can do these a couple of times a day. so
after you do the abduction,
now you're gonna do ad adduction. so you
can use a pillow, you can use a ball, but
you want to have something that's a
little bit bigger so your knees aren't so
close together. that they're still about
hip width apart. and so this time you're
gonna squeeze in. so just squeezing into
that ball holding it for about three to
five seconds and then relaxing. this time
it's working those inner muscles. a lot
of times people feel it in the groin
area or the inside of the knee, and again
that's okay if you're feeling a little
bit of pain. maybe achy pain or fatigue
pain, but if you're getting sharp pain
somewhere, either you're pushing too hard
or maybe you're not quite ready for this
yet. so again squeezing in, holding it for
about three to five seconds, doing that
about ten times. so then you're gonna go
into a straight leg raise. a lot of times
people see these a lot with knee pain,
hip pain, sometimes a little back pain.
with the straight leg raise is kind of
like it sounds, you're putting your legs
straight out. I like pulling up my toes
because that just kind of helps lock out
everything and activate all the muscles.
again you want to go slow with this. you
don't want to go super fast, but you're
just coming up to about the height of
the other knee and then slowly coming
down. so you're not coming all the way up
like that because in most of time you're
using momentum to do it. really control
that movement, get about to there, and
then slowly come back down.
some people do ask can I put the other
leg down. you can, but a lot of times that
puts a little bit of stress on your low
back. so if it's if it's comfortable to
do this propped up, really prop it up
because it also gives you a target about
how high you should take it up. so again
ten
times, you know two to three sets, a couple
times a day. if this becomes easy and
then you get up to 20-25 it's really easy,
you can put a little ankle weight around
your ankle. so then we're gonna go into
clam shells. clam shells are ones that
look really easy, but they're if you do
them correctly, they're pretty hard. I'm
gonna prop up on my elbow. you don't have
to prop up on your elbow, make sure
you're comfortable, make sure you're not
hurting something else while you're
doing it. so if you want to lie all the
way down that's fine. I just find it
easier to talk to you with my elbow
propped up. but make sure if you prop up
on your elbow that your elbows pretty in
alignment with your shoulder so you
don't end up hurting your shoulder. the
key to this is your hips should be
perpendicular to the floor. so if you're
lifting your leg and you're rolling back
like that, you're not getting the work
that you really want to do. so this
you'll probably feel more in your
gluteus medius and those glutes muscles,
but these have a lot to do with the knee.
so if you're getting these stronger, your
knees gonna feel better. keep your feet
together. you don't want to lift up your
your foot, but you're just lifting up
your top knee without rolling back. so
you're just coming up. again you don't
have to come very high, and then nice and
control back down. so if I'm doing this
and my hips are rolling back, that's not
quite right because then you're not
really working those muscles. so it
doesn't, you don't have to lift it high,
you just have to get it controlled and
keep those hips perpendicular. so again
just starting off with ten, two sets of
ten, if you can get up to fifteen twenty
to twenty five, and it's easy, then you
can wrap one of those loop bands for
resistive bands around and then give
yourself a little bit resistance. if both
knees hurt make sure you're doing both
sides for all of these. so now we're
going to do some stuff sitting in a
chair. so now that I'm sitting in a chair,
I'm gonna do a hip flexion exercise. with
a hip flexion, it's kind of just bringing
your leg up this way, but really just
trying to take that knee up towards the
ceiling. again this is hip flexion but
it's really working the knee for
arthritis, too because all these muscles
are either connected to each joint, or
they help work that joint. so when you're
coming up this way, if you've got some
arthritis in there,
sometimes it's a little painful. so you
can bring your leg out a little bit if
you have a hard time bending, but this
will help something with that bending as
well. if this gets really easy for you,
you're doing the 10 and 2 sets, and you
get to 20-25, you can add on with the
ankle weights. I would start off with
really really light if you've got a
bunch of different sets, but again you're
still just bringing that knee up. and
sometimes if you've got that arthritis
in the knee, the ankle weights feel a
little bit better because it's giving a
little bit of traction on that leg to
give that space and the knee opening up
that space a little bit. so sometimes
people say that the ankle weights feel a
little bit better. so if you've got some,
you can work up to those as well. and
then the next one is knee extension, or we
call them long arc quads. so this time
you're just taking your leg and going
straight out. I like pulling up my toes
at the end to really get that squeeze or
contraction of the quad muscle. you don't
have to. some people asked if you have to
or not. you can just come up this way
because sometimes that pull at the end
because it's stretching your calf muscle
and tightening up that quad muscles so
sometimes it feels a little
uncomfortable for that pull, but to get
the most benefit out of this exercise
I really think pulling out those toes
at the end is good. you can use an ankle
weight with these. sometimes it's not as
much of a favorite of mine because it's
an open chain when you have X more
weights on the end, sometimes it does put
a little stress on that knee joint, so
just try it if you want to, but if it's a
little bit painful, I'd go ahead and hold
off on doing the weights for that one. so
the last two exercises are going to be
standing up. so in standing, now you're
gonna do heel toe raises. with heel toe
raises I like having my feet about
shoulder width apart just because that
kind of opens up the space a little bit.
it gives you a little bit better balance,
but when you're starting off, make sure
and hold on to something. it doesn't
really take away from the exercise but
eventually if you want to not hold on.
you do get a little bit of a better
workout. so when you're doing the heel
toe raises, make sure you're going slow
and controlled. I like to put them
together, but you can just do heel
raises and then toe raises, but I kind of
like the rocking back. so you're just
gonna come up lifting up the heels and
then slowly come down and then lift your
toes up. but try not to stick your bottom
back to pull up your toes. some people do
that, but then you're kind of using your
bottom to get those toes up, so even if
your toes just come up a little bit,
that's okay. really try and work them
coming up that way.
but just a nice kind of slow rock back
and forth. so again this is for the
progression if you get to 20-25 and it's
easy, you can try without holding on
which does make it a little bit harder
because then there's a balance component
into it. or if you want to get make it a
little harder, then you can just do one
foot at a time. which again makes it a
little bit harder working on it. so the
last exercise is going to be a mini
squat. when you have knee arthritis,
squats are actually good once you can
get the pain minimize because it's
working all those muscles around that
joint, but in the beginning they might be
painful. so that's why I always say start
off with mini squats. so really mini
squats the technique is the same for a
regular squat, but you're just not going
to go down as far. so you want your feet
about shoulder width apart. you want to
keep weight equally on your heels and
your toes. so not leaning back on your
heels, not coming up on your toes, but you
want your feet to be pretty equalized
out. and you want to stick your booty
back. a lot of times people want to come
down like this, but then all that
pressure is on your knee joint, and
that's what makes it painful. if you
can't see your toes when you bend down,
then you're going too far in front and
you're putting too much pressure on your
knee joint. so stick your booty out. see I
can see my toes that way, I can't see my
toes that way. so stick the booty out.
and this is a mini squat. that's all you
have to go. you don't have to go any
further than that. just until you kind of
feel some tightness in there. maybe a
little bit of pain, and then come back up.
and then you can slowly work down until
that full squat, but make sure that
you're keeping those knees behind
the toes. so start off with just a little
bit. if it becomes easier, then you can go
a little bit lower. so those are your ten
best knee arthritis exercises. if you're
interested in purchasing the MD
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there. and remember be safe (right? yeah!),
have fun, and I hope you feel better soon.