Whether you're recovering from knee surgery or trying to strengthen your knees after a mild or serious injury, taking care of one of the major joints in your body takes a commitment to doing certain strengthening exercises. Strengthening and stretching the muscles in your upper and lower legs will help provide more support to your knees to help you recover from injury or surgery and avoid further injury.
Muscle Stretches
Stretching and range-of-motion exercises are often the first step in a rehabilitation program. Focus on stretching the major muscles of the legs, including the hamstrings, quadriceps and calf muscles, as all provide support to the knee joint. To stretch the hamstrings, sit on the floor with your injured leg extending out in front of you. Bend your other leg and place it on the floor so the bottom of your foot touches the inside of your right knee. Keeping your injured leg straight, bend forward at the waist and try to touch your toes. Hold this stretch for 10 to 12 seconds, then rest and repeat three to four times. Stretch your quad muscles by standing next to a wall or counter. Bend your injured leg and grab your foot from behind you. Pull back on your foot and bend forward until you can feel a stretch in your quadriceps muscles. Hold for 10 to 12 seconds, then rest; repeat three to four times.
Squats
Squats help build the muscles in your quads and hamstring to provide extra support to your knee joints. To do squats, stand with your legs shoulder-width apart. Extend your arms out in front of you for balance. Slowly squat to the floor, keeping your back straight, until your upper legs are almost parallel with the ground. Hold for one second, then stand back up slowly. You can hold a dumbbell in your hands to increase the resistance.
Ball Squeeze
Try the ball squeeze to work the inner thigh muscles, which provide support to your knees while you're walking, running or playing sports. Sit on the edge of a chair or counter and hold a fitness ball between your legs. Slowly squeeze your legs together, compressing the fitness ball as much as you can. Hold for 10 to 15 seconds, then relax. Repeat this exercise two to three times as part of your rehab exercise routine.
Stationary Bike
Riding a stationary bike is an effective and low-impact way to work out all the muscles in your legs as well as increase the range of motion in your injured knee. Use a stationary bike that has adjustable resistance settings. Start on a low resistance to warm up your knee and leg muscles. Adjust the seat height so you can achieve a 110-degree bend in your injured leg. Bike comfortably for 20 minutes, then increase the resistance slowly.
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