6 Tips to Keep Your Knees Healthy in Any Workout
Having healthy knees is something every athlete needs for their development and daily performance. As such, we’ll give you six tips to keep your knees healthy in any workout.
The knee is a joint that lets you move your lower limbs. It’s made of bones, cartilage, and ligaments. What’s more, you use them for most exercises. As such, it tends to be an area you can injure easily. To avoid doing so, remember these tips to keep your knees healthy in any workout.
Tips to keep your knees healthy in any workout
1. Diet and weight
In any training, routine, or exercise that you’re going to do, your diet and weight play a role in your knees’ health. Indeed, these are two factors you should take care of to avoid hurting your body.
The food you eat will determine the nutrients your knees get. So, if you have a diet low in nutrients such as protein, calcium, vitamins, and others, your knees may be weak, which is not great for exercising.
That being said, following a healthy diet isn’t just to keep your knees strong. Eating a diet high in sugar and trans fat can make you overweight which also hurts your joints.
Find out more about: How to Improve our Joints and Bones
2. Warm-up: tips to keep your knees healthy in any workout
Warming up before exercise is very important for caring for your muscles. Exercising without warming up can lead to cramps, injuries, and stiffness.
Also, a proper warm-up prepares your knee joint for more complex and challenging movements. As such, there will be a lower risk of injury due to not warming up beforehand.
3. Bend and rotate
When exercising, your knees are constantly bending and extending. So, you should be careful how you bend them since it can make all the difference for your knees.
Bending your knees improperly can damage them in the long term. Also, if you use weights or a lot of effort, a wrong bend could injure them. For example, when doing squats, your knees shouldn’t go past your toes. It might seem like a tiny detail, but it’s actually very important.
As with bending and extending, you should also be careful with how you rotate your knees. Your knees can only rotate a few degrees when bent. Forcing them to go beyond that can cause them serious harm.
4. Stretch: tips to keep your knees healthy in any workout
If possible, stretch at least three times a week. Flexibility helps your joints to move better. So, stretching will keep your knees healthy and in top shape.
Also, keep in mind that you should stretch after exercise or at least after warming up. Further, you should always avoid stretching before a workout. Once your muscles are warmed up, you should be able to stretch without issue or risk of injury.
Find out more: Benefits of Stretching
5. Low and high impact
High-impact exercises are the most common since they provide faster results. However, they’re more harmful because of the pressure that some muscles and joints are put under. As such, it’s a good idea to add low-impact exercises to keep from overworking your knees.
There are various low-impact exercises to choose from such as swimming, bike riding, walking, jumping on a trampoline, etc.
6. Don’t overdo it
To keep your knees healthy, it’s important to avoid scenarios where you can hurt them. Going beyond your fitness abilities is not a great idea. Indeed, your knee joint is quite delicate. In fact, a small injury can affect its performance for the rest of your life.
All exercises must be done once you’ve worked up to them. In other words, don’t do advanced exercises when you’re starting out. You should start out simple and increase the difficulty little by little.
What’s more, working out too often and for long periods can exhaust and wear out your knees. Any exercise is beneficial but if you overdo it, it can be harmful. Don’t try to go way beyond what your body is capable of.
In conclusion, your knees are absolutely crucial to your being able to move during exercise. Indeed, keeping them in good condition is important for any activity. As such, make sure to follow these tips to keep your knees healthy in any workout.
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- M. Ledia, D; Góngora García, H; Victoria, P. (2003). Articulación de la rodilla y su mecánica articular. Medisan, 7(2), 100–109.