- Hey, Ann Swanson here.
And today I'll be teaching you a knee self-massage.
So if you have tender knees
Sit in a chair and sit tall.
You can bring your feet out in front of you
to wherever they're comfortable
and take a deep, full breath.
Begin with some rhythmic movements toward the heart.
Very, very light pressure here,
less than the depth of even a penny
as you move your fingertips
just to stimulate the superficial circulation,
clearing the vessels.
You can begin to touch around the knee
and notice how your knees feel today.
If you'd like to go a little firmer, you can
but I'm still going pretty lightly toward the heart.
And then check in with your knees.
Focus on the knees for a moment,
notice where you feel it most in the knee
and pause feeling your knees.
Go ahead and grab the balm or lotion that you have
and take a little bit, you don't need much at all.
And then go ahead and put that to the side.
You can always add more if you need
but rub this into your fingertips
and then around the knees.
This is just a spreading action just to distribute it
and feel the glide.
If you need to add more, you can.
You just want a gentle glide.
And then pause and feel which knee
is asking for more attention right now.
And then go to that knee
and do this waterfall action above the knee itself.
You can use your thumbs
or you can use the side of your hands,
wherever is comfortable for you.
We are massaging around the quadriceps tendon.
And the quadriceps muscles are these four thigh muscles
that come together here, your quads.
And attachment points can sometimes be tender.
So checking in and then massaging on either side
of your knee with both hands.
You can use, once again, wherever on your hands feels best.
I'm kinda experimenting even the base of my thumb
but to do that, I had to lean forward more.
Make sure you're not rounding your spine forward.
Your chest is broadened open so you can breathe deeply.
Choosing one side that needs it a little more.
For me, it's the outer knee,
and go and focus on that side of the knee.
You can do circular motion here with the thumbs,
with the side of the hand.
If you use your fingertips or thumb tips,
then you can get a little bit more fine detail.
Or if it feels better to have a broader stroke,
you can do that too.
Notice if there's any tender areas and focus on them.
Stimulating the circulation,
and then move on to the other side.
Same thing on this side.
You can do these circular motions.
Experiment with using different parts of your hands.
Try not to stress your fingers.
Soften the fingers.
You should be relaxing for your hands.
You're even spreading some of this balm onto your hands too
as a bonus.
Find what feels good on this side of the knee.
And then gently rub below the knee cap itself
and then the whole knee.
Whatever pressure depth feels right for you,
and then place your hands above your knees and pause,
sitting tall feel your head floating up.
Take a deep breath in
and a deep breath out.
And then we'll go to the other knee.
Begin by doing this waterfall motion
on your quadriceps tendon.
Soft joints in your hands,
slow deep breaths, moving to the sides of your knees:
circular action.
Check-in, notice if one side is more tender than the other
and then focus in on that side
using one or both hands.
Experiment a little bit.
I'm feeling some pressure on the side,
a little bit more back here
but it didn't feel on the other side.
So check-in notice if there's any differences.
And then we'll go to the other side of the knee.
Same thing here.
Moving into the area below your knee cap,
leaning forward, and then rubbing the whole knee.
Go a little slower.
Rubbing both knees nice and slowly.
And then just pause for a moment, sitting tall.
Turn your palms facing up and feel the resulting sensations;
vibrations, flows, feel the increase of circulation,
whatever's present.
Even if you just feel it as a buzzing as an aliveness
within your hands, around your knees.
Take a nice full breath in
and full breath out
thanking yourself for taking this time to treat yourself.
Notice how just a few minutes of self massage
and self care
can help you feel more present, more embodied.
Let's test and see how your knees feel.
Just straighten one knee and then the other
and check-in with your knees.
Notice how you feel.
And if you haven't already, click subscribe below
and go ahead and comment below.
Let me know how you feel.
Thank you so much and be well.