It only takes a minor knee injury to curtail your mobility and keep you sidelined for weeks. A more severe injury, like a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), can put you out of play for 6-9 months and sometimes longer.
Whether you’re a competitive athlete or your favorite activity is taking a walk, you can protect your knees, avoid knee pain, and significantly lower your risk of injuries with advice and preventive care from our team at Cascade Orthopedics & Sports Medicine Center, P.C.
We customize your preventive care plan based on crucial variables, such as your activity level, age, overall physical fitness, and the specific sports you play. The following five tips are essential for preventing knee injuries during exercise, recreational activities, and athletics.
One of the best ways to prevent a knee injury is to be sure that flexible muscles and ligaments support the joint, absorb shock, and prevent excessive strain.
You can do that with a knee-conditioning program that includes stretching and exercises to strengthen your legs, hips, buttocks, and core muscles.
It’s also crucial to prevent muscle imbalances that develop due to the repetitive movements demanded by your sport. An athlete’s regimen trains the muscles needed for their sport and includes exercises to strengthen all muscle groups.
If you’re not a competitive athlete, you may not think about form (or technique) when exercising. But every activity, including walking, has a proper form; following it is vital for preventing knee injuries.
Form refers to how you hold and move your body during an activity and involves good posture and alignment. The technique is specific to the movements required for each sport.
Learning the appropriate form and technique for your activity or sport ensures that your bones and muscles are balanced and working together, which helps prevent knee joints from bearing more stress than they can handle.
For example, extending your knee over your toes when squatting or lunging forces your knees to support extra body weight and raises the risk of an injury. Keeping the knee aligned with the ankle (the proper form) distributes your body weight through your heels.
Stretching your leg and hip muscles before you exercise boosts circulation and flexibility, two actions to help prevent injuries. Exercising with stiff muscles pulls on the joint and increases the risk of tendon tears.
If you plan to advance the intensity or duration of your usual exercise routine, be sure to do so gradually, increasing just one factor (like speed, distance, duration, or challenge level) at a time. Suddenly increasing your activity is one of the top causes of knee joint injuries.
It’s easy to overlook footwear as a potential cause of knee injuries, but the right shoes support more than your feet and ankles; they also reduce the stress on your knees.
Wearing footwear designed for your sport improves your body mechanics and helps align your feet, ankles, legs, knees, and hips. With proper body alignment, each bone, muscle, and joint (including your knees) doesn’t bear more than its fair share of the shock.
After analyzing how you walk, your athletic requirements, and your knee problems, our foot specialists can help you find the best shoes or recommend orthotics to correct any issues.
During an athletic activity or intense workout, the soft tissues (muscles, tendons, and ligaments) develop tiny tears. As the minor injuries heal, your muscles rebuild and gain new strength.
But there’s a catch. Microtears only heal and build new tissues if you give them time to rest. Without rest, inflammation develops, and the tears gradually enlarge, leading to an overuse injury, such as tendonitis (inflamed tendons) or runner’s knee (patellofemoral pain syndrome).
Rest your muscles by following a balanced cross-training routine. Take a day off from activities that stress your knees and replace them with low-impact options, like swimming, walking, and low-intensity interval training.
If you need help with a customized plan to protect your knees or want to learn more about the best conditioning program for your athletic goals, connect online or call Cascade Orthopedics & Sports Medicine Center, P.C. today.
