Knees, Knees, Who Knows Their Knees.

As I continue with thoughts about Stretching/Strengthening Routines, let’s move up the ladder to the knees. Knees can be a real challenge to runners because we think they’re taking the brunt of the impact from running. However, that’s not necessarily the case if we condition them properly.

First, we must realize the knee is a hinge of sorts and to protect it we must keep it aligned and lubed. So, let’s look at some of the muscles that keep it aligned. In the front of the leg we have the quad muscles. If we run only and don’t strengthen these muscles, typically we can develop a muscle imbalance between the inside and outside quad muscles. This imbalance can cause misalignment and friction in the knee joint. A conditioning routine for this is to sit in a chair with a 5-10 pound toe weight and do leg lifts. Another is to do squats out of a seated position, using the chair as a squat height guide for the repetitions. Also, one can do a quad stretch/strengthen by pulling the leg up and behind using the arm and then activate the quad muscle against the arm force. This is an example of muscle activation in the stretch mode, which improves range of motion and mobility. Similarly we can do the hamstring by putting our foot up on a chair, and then bending over for the stretch and in turn dig the heel in to activate the muscle. The groin muscles can be conditioned with a simple routine whereby we sit and hold the legs together with arm strength, then force them open against the arm strength. For the outside muscles, force the legs open using the elbows against the inside of the knees and then activate the muscles to go against the arm strength. Once you’ve done all this, then grab your knees and do some hoola circles both ways to help open the joint and get the synovial fluid into those key knee areas for good lubrication.

Now, when you’re out running with your strengthened leg muscles, concentrate on good running posture, landing on your mid-foot and thus transmitting the impact straight up through the legs and into the upper body