Knee injuries can happen suddenly or gradually. The knee itself is one of the largest and most resilient joints in the body, but its physical position in the middle of the leg makes it vulnerable to getting hit, twisted and pulled. If you enjoy exercising, protect your knees. A little TLC goes a long way.
Run for Better Knees
Running, skiing and soccer get a lot of attention for the risk they pose to knees. Running frequently gets blamed for knee pain, but of the three sports, it is the safest. According to a New York Times blog piece called "Phys Ed: Can Running Actually Help Your Knees?" running encourages powerful physiological adaptations because it is a weight-bearing action that forces muscles, ligaments and bones to adapt. Running is simply a series of alternating single-leg jumps and therefore strengthens tissues throughout the hips, legs and feet, and injuries arise only from overuse or poor mechanics such as landing awkwardly with each stride.
Stabilize Your Knees for Skiing
Most downhill skiing injuries occur from sudden falls and twists at high speed. The safest position for the skier is in a low crouch that engages the strongest leg muscles, the quadriceps and hamstrings, to stabilize the knee. However, if the skier is suddenly forced to twist or turn, the knee becomes the weakest link and can suddenly incur ligament tears and strains, especially when hyper-extended. Strong legs are your best defense, and that includes strong muscles around the knee itself, for resilience.
Soccer and Your Knees
Soccer injuries sometimes arise from blunt impact. The sport itself develops very powerful lower limbs and with that, great lateral agility, but soccer players contact each other a lot, too. Knees can get kicked, bruised, twisted and sprained. The sport also requires bursts of speed and hard, continuous directional changes, so the stress on the knees is significant. Soccer players should always practice side-to-side drills and single-leg balance exercises to develop the highest stability quotient possible.
Prevent and Heal Injuries Through Rest
Sleep helps prevent and heal injuries by allowing the body to regularly rest and rebuild tissue. And if your brain is rested, you can better assess what your body can handle in terms of physical effort. Your decisions about when to push hard or to back off are important tools for preventing knee injuries when exercising. Finally, accidents are less likely to happen.
Protect Your Knees
Keeping the knees healthy requires exercises that gently and safely stress them. Remember, running is fine for general knee health; just be sure to complement it with some weight-work. Simple lunges---huge, slow, steps onto one leg, in any direction---strengthen and stabilize your knees. Squats build power. To do a squat, stand on one or both legs and slowly lower your body, bending only at the knees and hips and keeping your back straight, and press to standing again. Your knees will love you.
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