Heather Fell: Runner's Knee, it's a pain in the knee that we'd all rather not have. We've
made a video on what it is and how to treat it. Surely prevention is better than cure?
Great, well, you're with me, then this video is for you. Today I have eight exercises to prevent
that dreaded pain in the knee. [music]
Knee pain is a very general term. Runner's Knee, however, refers to pain at the front of the knee,
usually the patella, or otherwise known as the kneecap. It can arise from a sudden increase in
your training, general overtraining, wearing different shoes, or ones that are worn out
running on a camber. Generally, it comes from some sort of malalignment as the patella actually
moves over the rest of your knee joint. There are a few things that can interfere with its
tracking and it's usually a combination of muscle weakness or not firing and then muscle tightness
in other areas, and that's the area that we're focusing on today with this video.
Your glutes play a vital role in running, they act to extend your hip and also
work on rotation. If they're not firing correctly, you can actually see a hip drop
on the stance phase of your running gait, and that will put more pressure on your knees. If it's
really bad, you might even see a visible inward lean on your knees, actually slightly knock knee.
I'm sure you're not here to hear the detail of why. It's all about the exercises that can help
prevent any problems with the glutes. Banded Side Step: It's the banded sidewalk,
otherwise known as crab walk. It's really simple, but you do need an elastic band or a physio band
of some sort. Depending on how tight it is and its length, you can either put it over your legs
just above your knees or just above your ankles. Bend at the hips and your knees into a semi-squat
with your hips and shoulders facing forwards. Pop your hands on your hips just to remind them
to stay in this position. Then simply sidestep in one direction for 10. Try to make it as smooth as
possible and keep your shoulders level as you're going, return for 10 in the other direction back
to your starting point. You'll soon know if you've got it right as you'll feel the burn.
Repeat it a total of two to three sets. Side-Lying Clams: This is the good ol' Jane Fonda
exercise, famous for those '80's exercise videos but still, an exercise not to be sniffed at,
it's going to be working your hip in external rotation. A slightly different part of your
glutes, but it's still going to be adding to the burn from earlier. Lie with your back to a wall to
ensure that you're staying at 90 degrees to the ground. Have your knees slightly bent, and your
top hand just resting on your hips. Make sure your hips and shoulders are facing the wall in front of
you and they remain so throughout the exercise. Resting the top foot on the bottom foot, lift
that top knee and rotate it upwards, keeping the foot and hip as still as possible. It's important
to focus on this small movement and not allow any other movements to compensate. Try to do 12 to 15
twice through on either side. If it's really easy, you can simply pop a band around just above your
knees for added resistance. Standing Hip Hitches:
I mentioned earlier that poor firing glutes can actually lead to your hips dropping
during the stance phase of your gait. If you've ever seen a picture of yourself running,
especially when you're tired, if you notice one of those pictures that looks really unflattering when
you're standing on one leg or you're on that stance phase of the running gait but your knee
is slightly bent still, that's all fine, but then if you look at your hips and it looks like
you're collapsing into the other side as though you're about to sit in a chair, that's not too
great. If you watch the pros, you're unlikely to be able to see them in that same position.
To counteract that, we want to find a step and stand parallel to the edge with one foot over
the edge and one foot on the step obviously. Again, hold on to support if you need it. Then
keep facing forwards. You're going to gently drop that foot and hip down so your foot's coming off
the edge of the step whilst you're still keeping the weight-bearing leg straight. Go as far as
you can control so your hip is dropping down, and then return to level with the standing leg. You're
basically dropping your hip down, bringing it back up. Repeat 12 of these on each leg twice through.
Sticking with the single-leg theme it's the good old hip bridge. Lie on your back with your knees
bent, pop your hands on the ground beside you to start with for more control. Hover one foot just
off the ground and then squeeze your glute as you lift your hips towards the ceiling,
making sure they remain level throughout. Lower all the way back down and repeat for
eight on each side, two to three times through. To make it harder take your arms off the ground
and if you're really ambitious, then you can prop one foot onto a stall or a chair,
keep squeezing your glutes though as your hamstrings might try to do all the work instead.
Let's not get too bogged down with glutes as they aren't the only part of the puzzle when it
comes to Runner's Knee, there's a very small but significant muscle called vastus medialis oblique,
which you might actually have heard of it as VMO. It's a small muscle that runs diagonally and sits
just above your knee on the inside. This is key in getting your patella, your kneecap,
to track correctly in that femoral growth groove. Tracking up and down in a pretty
much straight line. Isometric Contraction:
This is a relatively straightforward exercise and it isn't going to be very difficult to do, but
it's really working on activation. You're going to sit with your legs out straight in front of you
with a towel or something similar just underneath your knees, so you've got a very slight bend. Then
I want you focusing on your kneecap, you can do one at a time and think of trying to pull
your kneecap up towards your body in a straight line. As you do that, you'll naturally straighten
your leg and once you're in that position, hold it for 10 seconds, that contraction, relax,
do it on the other side and repeat 10 in total. Wall Squat: This is a more dynamic exercise that's
going to activate the VMO but it's also going to involve quite a few other muscles and no surprises
yes, your glutes too. Pop a physioball, exercise ball, whatever you want to call it, behind you
and lean against the wall standing with your feet just a little bit wider than hip-width apart.
Squat down, keeping your back parallel to the wall, and watch your knees that they're tracking
straight out in front of you not wobbling in or out. Once you've dropped down into that
90-degree position at the knees, the hips, and the ankles, then push back up to standing still
focusing on the knees, and complete this for a target of eight reps, three sets through.
When certain areas are over tight, it can cause your muscles to become lazy or even switch off
which, the end result can end up as incorrect or inefficient movement at your joints and
your quads and hip flexors can have this effect on your patella and on your knee pain.
When we're going through these stretches, I just want you to remember that please
just do them after you've done a run all your muscles are naturally warm anyway.
Quad Stretch: The basic quad stretch is still one of the best as long as you do
it correctly. For this, you want to just be in standing and again, you might want a wall for
support so you can really focus on doing the movement correctly. Make sure your hips remain
level and your pelvis does not tip forward; this bit is key. Try to picture tucking your tummy
in and bringing your pelvic bone towards your belly button so you're rotating it backwards.
If you've done this correctly, then your starting posture will naturally isolate the quads. Take
your foot into your hand of the leg that you're going to be stretching, gradually pull your foot
towards your bottom, hold for a minimum of 30 seconds. Then swap and repeat on the other side.
To move this stretch further up the front of your legs into your hip flexors, you're going to
simply take a lunge step forwards. If you want to intensify the stretch a little bit further,
you can place your back foot up onto something a little bit higher.
Once you're in that split standing position, gently lower the back knee towards the ground
keeping your hips and shoulders facing forwards. If you can do it in front of a mirror
that's brilliant and you should feel this at the front of your thigh but
much higher up this time. Again, hold for at least 30 seconds on either side.
That is a pretty comprehensive list; I'm aware. I'm not expecting you to include all of those but
work out which ones you need. If you are prone to having anterior knee pain, then
you are going to need to do a selection as I'm afraid, it's not just one exercise that
will solve your problem. Play around with it and find the exercises that you know you can commit
to doing regularly in a nice routine. Hopefully, this has been helpful, you've enjoyed it. If so,
give us a Like. You can subscribe to us on YouTube by hitting the globe and you can also follow us
on our social media channels. [00:09:04] [END OF AUDIO]