Unfortunately, 100 million Americans have chronic pain, with knee pain being second on the list of top causes. One third of all Americans say they’ve experienced knee pain at some point in their life.

Common knee conditions:

 Runner’s knee
– Ligament sprains or tears
– Osteoarthritis
– Knee Bursitis
– Patellar Tendonitis
– Knee Effusion

What causes knee pain?

Is body composition the issue?

Losing just 1 pound in bodyweight takes four pounds of pressure off your knees. Avoid carrying excess bodyweight to prevent unnecessary stress on the knees!

Believe it or not, tight hips are often the reason for knee pain.

One muscle near your hip is generally a culprit in causing pain at the knee. That’s the tensor faciae latae (TFL). This muscle is on the front of your hip and attaches to your IT band, which goes all the way down to your knee. If the TFL is tight, it will pull on the IT band and cause stress at its attachment point in the side of the knee.

How’s your form?

Sometimes pain can stem from poor form while working out or even just completing daily activities. Ensuring proper body mechanics will help keep pain away!

Try these warm ups and cool downs to help your knees stay healthy!

*Notice we aren’t really targeting the actual knee itself here. By loosening up all the major muscles pulling on it, we ensure the knee joint is ready for activity.

Runner Warm Up

Release Tight Hips

Foam Roll IT Band

Roll Out the Quads

Foam Roll Hamstrings

There aren’t many muscles in the knee joint itself. So how can we make them STRONGER?

By strengthening the large muscle groups around the knee (mainly quads, hamstrings, and glutes) we can improve knee stability and lessen the chance of pain or injury!

Knee Prehab Exercises

Try 2 sets of each exercise for 10-15 reps

1. Side Bridge with Elevated Leg
2. “Triple Threat” Hamstring Curls
3. Side Resisted Bulgarian Split Squats
4. Running Man

Struggling with knee pain? We can help you out!