Knee problems can cause major difficulties in a person's life, as they can lead to inactivity. When knee pain leads to an individual avoiding exercise completely, it could also lead to obesity and cardiovascular health problems. Knee pain doesn't meant that you have to avoid exercise, however; there are ways to minimize the strain that aerobics put on your joints while burning calories and keeping your body healthy.
Warming Up
When suffering from knee pain, you must complete some warm up exercises before beginning any aerobic exercise, as this will help minimize the pain that you experience. Walking and stretching will help you to warm up your knees, and you should do this before every workout. Avoid sudden changes in the intensity of exercise after your warm up period, as this could exacerbate your existing knee problems. Walking is an aerobic exercise; it will help you to burn about 198 calories if you can walk two miles per hour.
Strength Training
Strength Training and aerobic exercise can overlap, as a higher intensity workout will get your heart moving. Exercises like leg presses, mini squats and one-legged squats will help you to strengthen your knee joints while burning calories. Light strength training burns about 220 calories per hour, while a high intensity workout burns about 440 calories per hour. Make sure that you include a cool down period once you have finished your workout, as this will ensure that your body has time to return to normal resting levels.
Swimming
Since you want to avoid high impact exercises, anything done in the water can help take the strain off your knees. Water walking, swimming and water aerobics all have value for those with knee problems. Swimming about 20 yards per minute will help you to burn about 288 calories in an hour, while swimming 45 yards a minute will burn about 522 calories per hour.
Cycling
Cycling can allow you to get a healthy amount of exercise without adding to the pain in your knees. Biking at a speed of about five miles per hour will help you to burn about 174 calories per hour; riding at about 13 miles per hour will help you to burn 612 calories in an hour. Keep in mind that the repetitive nature of cycling can add to knee pain for some people, so make sure that you test your knees out before selecting this as a permanent exercise option.
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