Strengthening muscle around your knee joints decreases your risk of injury by reducing stress on your knee joint. While several stretches can make a knee injury or problem worse, using proper form and technique when you do the right stretches is important as well. Avoid any type of stretch that puts unnecessary pressure on your knees. Consult with your physician or physical therapist about appropriate stretches for your knee, especially if you have had a knee injury.
Knees Over Toes
One of the worst things you can do to your knees while you stretch is to allow your knees to extend past your toes. Avoid bending your legs to a point that causes your knees to stick out past your toes. For example, when you perform a runner's lunge, allowing your front knee to bend past your toes while you stretch puts excess pressure on the kneecap. This not only applies to stretches, but to aerobic exercise, such as dancing, step aerobics or circuit training, as well. Avoid deep knee bends, which put your knees past your toes and put strain on knee ligaments and cartilage.
Hurdler's Stretch
A hurdler's stretch involves sitting on the ground with one leg extended and the other leg bent with your foot behind you, so that you look like a hurdler. The purpose of the stretch is to bend back to stretch the quadricep muscle of your bent leg. An even worse stretch for your knees is the two-legged hurdler's stretch, which requires you to bend both legs behind you for a double quadricep stretch. Performing the hurdler's stretch is bad for you knees because it puts pressure on the meniscus. It can cause slippage of your kneecap and it overstretches the medial ligaments in your knee.
Straight Legged Toe Touches
A straight legged toe touch involves bending over at the hips and touching your toes, while your spine is bent. This stretch is potentially dangerous since the movement may cause hyperextension of your knees, which occurs when your ligaments are overstretched.
Ballistic Stretching
Ballistic stretches are normally part of a warm-up or exercise routine and involve quick, jerky movements. When you perform a ballistic stretch, your leg is bounced past its regular range of motion in an effort to stretch those muscles. The purpose of ballistic stretching is to improve flexibility while quickly loosening muscles. This stretch also puts excess stress on the knee joint, making it more likely for a muscle strain or a ligament tear. Most physicians, physical therapists and personal trainers discourage this type of stretch due to the serious injury that can be caused by overextending your muscles past their normal range of motion. Dynamic and static stretches are better options for effective and safe results.
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