Post-injury or post-surgery knee rehabilitation is necessary to restore full knee health. Restoring this joint's full function allows pain-free mobility and supports your ability to exercise safely and consistently, so if you have been advised to rehabilitate your knees, or if you simply want to prevent knee injury, take advantage of some simple, effective exercises that focus on knee health.
Seated Leg Extensions
Seated leg extensions help the knee track properly and ensures natural hinge action. When you extend your leg, you contract the large muscles of your thigh, the quadriceps, which include the vastus medialis, a muscle located slightly above and to the inside of your knee; it works hard to keep your kneecap aligned when your leg is straightening. During leg extensions, a helpful trick is to concentrate on using only the vastus medialis, because by isolating this muscle as best as you can, you train this muscle to respond more efficiently. As you extend and lower your leg, your quads are also working with ligaments throughout your knee to move and support the lower leg.
Slowly perform 10 extensions, rest 1 minute and repeat twice. Do this once daily for a week. During the second and third weeks, gradually increase resistance with light weights of 2 to 5 lbs., and reduce sessions to only three days weekly to allow intermediary muscle recovery. You can use a fitness center's weighted leg-extension machine, or simply find a chair that's high enough to allow your legs to dangle in the air, and attach velcro-strapped weights to your ankles. Even bricks or sacks of flour work well as weights.
One-legged Squats
Squats require your leg muscles to contract and stretch simultaneously. This dynamic dual action, called eccentric movement, is highly effective for improving power and coordination. According to Peak Performance, single-leg squats are one of the best leg exercises precisely because they enhance the neuromuscular pathways that govern balance, and balance dictates the knee's proprioception, or "sense of self in space." Proprioception is subconscious and allows your limbs to orient themselves correctly. Conscious coordination helps, too, so pay full attention when you do single-leg squats: start with daily repetitions of 10 shallow squats of 6 to 8 inches, without hand-support. Over the next three weeks, as you gain strength and control, carefully deepen to 12 inches or more.
Eccentric Knee Pulls
Knee flexibility is important, but an excess can lead to loose ligaments, hyperextension and pain. Chiropractic Newsletter reports that too much flexibility compromises joint function, and that athletes who overstretch risk muscle and bone tissue tearing. If you have excessively flexible knees, ease up on stretching and focus on strengthening your vastus medialis and other quad muscles, your hamstrings and even your hip and butt muscles, to stabilize your knees. Then again, overly-tight knees may cause stiffness or tendinitis. For either condition, this eccentric stretch improves knee function: lie on your back or sit in a chair, and with your hands on your lower legs or ankles, slowly pull your heels towards your buttocks, and simultaneously engage your thighs to push your feet forwards or towards the ceiling. Pushing your feet forwards this way, against the force of your heels being pulled downwards, stretches and strengthens the muscles and ligaments around your knees. Ease into this slow pulling/pushing action and maintain it for 15 seconds, then fully relax your limbs for 20 to 30 seconds. Repeat 10 times daily over the course of three weeks.
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