Save Your Knees

Save your knees doing more low-impact exercise.

If you start feeling some soreness in your knees - on a regular basis, you might benefit from low impact exercise.

Ideally, everyone should get three types of exercise regularly:

* Range-of-motion exercises to help maintain normal joint movement and relieve stiffness.
* Strengthening exercises to help keep or increase muscle strength. Keeping muscles strong with exercises such as walking up stairs, leg lifts, dips, or riding a stationary bicycle helps support and protect the knee.
* Aerobic or endurance exercises to improve function of the heart and circulation and to help control weight. Weight control can be important to people who have arthritis because extra weight puts pressure on many joints. Some studies show that aerobic exercise can reduce inflammation in some joints. If you already have knee problems, your doctor or physical therapist can help with a plan of exercise that will help the knee(s) without increasing the risk of injury or further damage. As a rule of thumb, you should choose gentle exercises such as swimming, aquatic exercise, or walking over jarring exercises such as jogging or high-impact aerobics.

Some knee problems, like those resulting from an accident, may never be foreseen or prevented. You can prevent many knee problems by following these simple suggestions:

Before exercising or participating in sports, warm up by walking or riding a stationary bicycle, then do stretches. Stretching the muscles in the front of the thigh (quadriceps) and back of the thigh (hamstrings) reduces tension on the tendons and relieves pressure on the knee during activity.

Strengthen the leg muscles by doing specific exercises (for example, by walking up stairs or hills, or by riding a stationary bicycle). A supervised workout with weights is another way to strengthen the leg muscles that support the knee.

Avoid sudden changes in the intensity of exercise. Gradually increase your workout time and intensity.

Wear shoes that both fit properly and are in good condition. This will help maintain balance and leg alignment when walking or running. Knee problems can be caused by flat feet or over-pronated feet (feet that roll inward). You can often reduce some of these problems by wearing special shoe inserts.

Maintain a healthy weight to reduce stress on the knee. Being overweight can increase your risk of osteoarthritis of the knee. If you're carrying around a few extra pounds - the quickest way to lose weight fast is with daily exercise! Enjoy eating healthy foods - in moderation - and you'll give your body the fuel it needs to build healthy muscles - and lose weight!

Try low-impact exercise to help you get in better shape and save your knees!