I have three things that most doctors don't have to help you get rid of your knee pain.
1- 4 years of pain experience in both knees.
After seeing every specialist, I had to learn how to fix it permanently myself.
2- 6 years studying everything about my knee pain.
I have been researching and testing solutions in the pool and exercises on land.
In the last 2 years I discovered the missing pieces that now thousands of people are using.
3- and 7 years of experience on Youtube explaining possibly the most complicated sport in the
world.
And now I can do this, and this, and this, without knee pain.
I couldn't even do this before the knee injuries.
The doctors obviously helped me with the diagnosis (patellar tendinopathy) and temporarily decrease
the pain.
A good diagnosis is important to understand your specific rehabilitation needs and limitations.
But if you're here because you've been through a similar story and want a permanent solution,
keep watching.
1- The first exercise to heal and strengthen the knee is done before entering the pool.
This is a good warm-up and should be done very carefully.
Hold on to the blocks or stairs first.
Then touch the water with your toes.
That’s it!
Do 10 to 20 reps on each leg.
It seems very simple, but it is actually a variation of the Poliquin step.
Charles Poliquin used this exercise to rehabilitate the knees of athletes who went on to win Olympic
gold medals in different sports.
The good thing is that almost anyone can do it at their level.
You can increase or decrease the weight you put on the knee with the help of your arms.
You can also start practicing plantar flexion.
You will use it quite often in swimming.
Just don't force it to the point of cramping.
It's also a great warm-up for upcoming exercises.
2- In my opinion, the best exercise for knee pain is to kick your back, but very very slowly.
If you only learn one thing from this video, I hope it's this.
The only thing that will heal your injury is increased blood flow to the injured area.
Muscles and skin recover quickly because there is a lot of blood available for those cells.
But bones, ligaments, and tendons have limited blood flow.
There are several ways to increase blood flow, but the best is exercise.
But not all types of exercise are created equal.
Some could cause more damage.
Kicking on the back with a board is a low-risk, high-reward exercise for your knees, but only
at a speed you can do without pain.
It is important to do it slowly at first.
Our ultimate goal is to have powerful knees.
But we have to start where the level of power does not cause pain.
If you're like me, where even walking caused pain, then we have to start at power level
near 0.
In physics, Power equals Strength x Speed.
We weigh almost nothing in the pool, so there isn’t much pressure or force on the knee,
there is only the resistance of the water.
But if we increase the Speed, the power goes up and you may feel pain.
That's why we start with slow kick on back.
The second reason we start slow is so you start to develop more control over the muscles
that move your hips and ankles.
These muscles are the key to making your knees "bulletproof."
The third reason the back kick is important is that it stretches your hip flexors and
strengthens them at the same time.
Strength through full range of motion is one of Ben Patrick's most helpful tips and now
we're using it in the pool.
It helps bring more nutrients to damaged areas.
The fourth reason is that it doesn't matter if you don't have much swimming experience,
almost everyone can start this exercise using a kickboard.
You can also do it on your stomach with a board, but the head is out of line and it's
harder to see your mistakes.
A common mistake beginners make is letting their knees come out of the water.
To make sure you're not doing that, look down at your knees.
If so, extend your hips and try not to bend your knees as much.
If you can kick your back without pain for 500 meters, great.
But if you get bored or don't move very fast, move on to the next exercise.
3- The second best exercise for the knees is kicking against the wall.
Eventually, I want you to advance to butterfly swimming with quick turns and even breaststroke
with explosive knee movements that are not very natural.
But for now you can start like this.
Hold your breath and slowly kick out with both feet at the same time while holding on
to the edge.
Simply holding your breath underwater can help you increase your cardiovascular endurance
and better manage stress.
But it is also good practice if you want to learn to swim better.
The kick with feet together is one more step on the scale of power.
Still try to keep the movement slow.
If there is any pain, stop and move on to the next exercise.
Eventually let your hips begin to move up and down like a dolphin kick.
If you don't have a lot of experience, this could also improve your coordination skills.
Improving hip and ankle mobility is one of the best things you can do for your knees.
This exercise and the 6th are good for doing both.
If you want you can start swimming like this.
We call it caterpillars.
It's hard to breathe unless you have some experience.
So you can also make caterpillars on your back.
Again, slowly at first.
Only speed up if you don't feel pain.
4- The next exercise is swimming with a pull-buoy or even a board between your legs.
6 years ago when I had pain in my knees, I wasn’t swimming at all.
I only did weight training.
The constant pain on my knees eventually pushed me back in the pool.
I was unable to do cardio exercises such as running, cycling or jumping rope due to knee
injuries.
So I had to do the only other cardio exercise I knew how to do well.
Swimming.
But doing turns or pushing off the wall hurt.
I also couldn't control the speed of my legs well when moving my arms, so even swimming
hurt.
The only cardio I could do was this.
No turns or pushes from the wall.
Just a pull buoy to keep my legs up and move my arms.
This went on for almost two months before my knee pain started healing.
And then my knee mobility and strength eventually increased and I started swimming again.
That was how I rediscovered my love for swimming and started doing YouTube videos.
But it all started with 400 meters freestyle and backstroke with a pullbuoy.
5- Backstroke start stretch.
Again, I want you to eventually be able to do this.
But for now we'll do this dynamic stretch.
This is probably my favorite stretch.
You hold onto the handles of the starting block or even the wall and slowly bend your
knees as far as you can.
Then squeeze your quads to gently stretch your knees.
Do this about 15 times.
You also stretch your entire back and even your shoulders.
Then do 15 more trying to keep your lower back straight.
6- Couch Stretch.
This stretch has relieved pain for thousands of people with knee pain.
It is so called because it was originally made on a couch.
Start here for 60 seconds on each side if this is where it doesn't hurt.
This stretches your quads and hip flexors.
If you spend your day mostly sitting down, these muscles get tight and pull your knee
tendons.
We have found that putting the ankle in dorsiflexion further increases the level of stretch.
7— Elevation of the tibialis.
Since most of the exercises we have done are with plantar flexion, we have to balance things
out.
Most injuries can be traced back to imbalances in our bodies.
Many of those imbalances can be fixed from the bottom up.
Unfortunately, modern shoes and sneakers squeeze the toes, lift the heels, and sometimes even
the toes.
This messes up our natural balance and foot strength in many ways.
The tibialis raise exercise is a start to regain balance in your ankles.
That is why it is gaining popularity at the same rate as barefoot shoes.
The tibialis anterior and posterior are the muscles that support the arch of your foot.
They are also responsible for helping the body slow down when walking or jumping.
If these muscles are strong, there will be less pressure on the knees.
Do this 20 times.
Then do this variation by rotating your ankles to strengthen them even better.
Another 20 reps would be great.
You can also do it on land eventually.
The further your feet are from the ground, the more difficult this exercise becomes.
Just make sure the ground is dry or you could slip.
Do this routine 3-4 times a week for the best results.
Your pain won’t go away immediately, but like we said, tendons and ligaments take longer
to heal than muscles and skin.
If you are afraid of going underwater, we made a YouTube course for you.
Find out more by clicking here.
If you want a routine to improve the mobility of your ankles, click here:
See you there!
Swim fast!