Posted on April 03, 2014 by Jenny Cromack

Have a read of our latest blog about how to prevent knee pain by strengthening the hip by completing squats and step ups. There are number of possible factors that lead to knee pain the most common being muscle imbalance in the hip and/or thigh or a tight iliotibial band (The iliotibial band is a tendon that runs along the outside of your thigh also known as the IT band).

To help ensure healthy knee function and prevent knee pain a variation of squats and step ups should be introduced into your programme to strengthen weakened muscles.

A study by Simao, a., Avelar, N.,et al (2012) found that when squat training was introduced to elderly people with arthritis related knee injuries they reported better balance, reduced pain and increased walking pace.

Many runners and cyclists who suffer from tight IT bands have knee pain and inflammation. This can be resolved by introducing a hip workout into their programme strengthening the hip. Strengthening exercises are in fact much more effective at reducing knee pain than flexibility exercises.

Here are some squat variation that can help strengthen the lower body muscles for happier and healthier knees

Stationary Split Squats

A good place to start in order to gain strength in your hip and the VMO – which is a common weak muscle in people with knee pain.

Split Squats

Improve flexibility, helping you get ready to squat full range

Step ups

Increase the difficulty by stepping onto a higher step or holding a pair of dumbbells. Increase the weight as you get stronger!

Full into quarter squat

Full squat followed by one and a quarter squat. Go all the way down. Come up a quarter of the way up. go back down and then come back up

Happy Squatting

LH