Be Kind to Your Knees and Future: Quick Tips

Never overlook knee pain, just plain don’t ignore your knees.  It can be a highly regretful thing to not care for your pair and going through a life-altering, limiting experience.  Knee health will be tackled in this article to remind us to look after our bodies, especially taking note of parts that are permanently vulnerable when seriously injured.  Remember prevention is key.  Exercising regularly and getting medical checkups definitely will benefit your life.  Athletes must take note of this because they face high chances of emotional damage as well if they undergo a tough knee limitation.  Keeping them springy and strong will sustain athletic careers and overall health.

A Quick Overview on Injuries

Injuries could either be acute or chronic.  Acute injuries root its pain and suffering from a single event and heals over normally if it’s not too severe and given immediate medical attention, these injuries are usually followed by a real crippling pain.  Chronic injuries on the other hand, can easily get ignored over time and possibly the result of many acute injuries or just repetitive strain in certain activities while not being mindful of unnecessary discomfort.  Beware everyone, athletes especially, ignoring such pains in a crucial and vulnerable area like the knees can develop manageable issues like tendonitis (inflammation) can progress into tendinosis (tissue death), no one wants to feel weak in the knees like that.  Also medical bone or cartilage conditions could be one of the root causes of pain and tissue degradation so leg exercises focused on your knees must be incorporated in one’s routine.

The advice that will be preached are more for chronic sufferers.

Reason for Injury

Most painful, long lasting injuries bore from a patellar tendon rip, the big, major tendon that connects the kneecap down to the shin.  Stretching is important and in the case of people with a more delicate knee support system or lower body in general, working on making the hips, legs, ankles and feet more flexible will make them stronger.  You can just be unfortunate, Circulation is the root cause of so many medical issues, bone and cartilage injuries happen a lot because that person didn’t bother stretching so well, even if you’re strong you have to be flexible.

Let’s just use common sense and think of the body as a machine, get It down to the basic mechanics and not let physics or the science of medicine intimidate us.  We’re not going to keep using medical terms for this explanation, how simple the knee works.  Look at it, it just bends and in one direction.  A simple, seesaw-like motion.  Now we got it straight that the knee’s movements are very simple and limited, and now you get that it’s also this lack of flexibility that makes it prone to injuries.  The hips rotate and are pretty flexible especially when regularly stretched.  Same goes for the ankles, these kinds of joints rotate their neighboring bones by swinging them around from their sockets in varying flexibility depending on the part and the person’s genetics/exercise regimen.  In conclusion hips and joints carry a bigger responsibility in taking care of the knees than the knees themselves.

Good hips and good ankles prevent knee injuries.

The rectus femoris is the only member of the quadriceps muscle group that crosses both the hip and knee joint. When athletes spend most of their day sitting down, their hips have a tendency to tighten, which causes the rectus femoris to become hyperactive. Combat this phenomenon by performing the Wall Stretch.

Wall Stretch Exercises

There are an easy combinations and variations of wall stretches that are great for your legs and all you need is a wall.  Your ankles, knees and overall leg health will benefit from stretching against walls.

You can spread your legs upwardly straight with the back of your knees against the walls, you lying straight on your back with your gut sunken in from breathing exercises.  Keep those legs as straight as you can, after 10-20 seconds you can change it up, try to reach your toes, try left to right, then both hands.  You can vary it up to by spreading your legs further and further while still trying to reach for your toes.

For quicker ankle relief, this simple move gets the tough nook at your ankle that makes it lock and ache.  Just stand still in front of the wall, bring one foot forward and bend your foot as upwards as you can against the wall, with the heel touching the corner of the floor and wall.  Doesn’t that feel great already?  Then try to do this without the wall and bend down still staying straight, and reach the toes of the bent foot.  Aah relief.

You can also keep your knees straight, face the wall and bend over 90 degrees and have your hands lie flat against the wall.  This also stretches your hamstrings and dominoes to the back of your ankles.

The wall is a great tool for practicing a headstand at home.  Facing away from the wall than in front of it is a bit more advanced.  Just try your best to safely prop yourself up when you’ve done a sufficient enough arm stretching and light lifting.  When the front of the body will be facing the wall try propping your butt and straightened legs up on the wall until you are bent 90 degrees with your hands flat on the ground, shoulder’s width apart, you can do this one leg at a time to be safer.

From that movement over time you can try straightening your legs up against the wall more and more, this will greatly improve your flexibility and hip and leg health.

You can also place one of your feet on the wall as you face away from it and bend on one knee 90 degrees with your hands on that knee.  Tense up your glutes and back and adjust and align by gently pushing yourself from the wall with that one other bent leg.  Try these knee wall stretches for about 15-20 minutes a day.

Give your knees a hug!

The glutes are the largest muscles in the body and the stronger and more developed they get along with the core, the less strain on the knees.  Try to lie down on a yoga mat or even a bed if it’s that bad, and bend your knee all way and hug it to your chest.  Breath steady, stretch it out well and keep it like that for at least 15 seconds a leg, 10 if your pain is pretty bad.  In the end you do it on your own pace, but as much as you can.  Try this twice a day, in the morning and before bed.

The Right Shoes

Barefoot shoes don’t have to be so bad, there are non-feet looking ones from Adidas and Nike that look like normal, sleek running shoes.  These shoes are specialized in absorbing a lot more shock from the leg, easing knees, ankles and feet.  Of course the next best thing to such specialized shoes are the next best comfy sneakers.  Shoes are an investment, take your time, don’t pressure yourself in the shopping process and really feel out what you can wiggle your toes in while not being too loose.  Try walking in them some more and twist your ankles and toes in them.

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