Knee injuries account for a quarter of all sports injuries. After puberty, girls have an overall risk of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) knee injury of 1 in 50. In college, women are 3 times more likely to have an ACL injury compared to men. Therefore, it is very important that athletes act now to protect their knees. Whether you’re a walker, competitive athlete, or weekend cyclist, the basic rules of knee care apply. They include strengthening muscles (particularly hamstrings and glutes for girls/women), increasing flexibility, using proper technique, reducing excess weight, and knowing when to increase or decrease activity that puts pressure on the knee. This article lists 15 ways to protect your knees and joint structure along with basic exercises to strengthen and stretch the largest joint in your body and the surrounding musculature.
15 rules for knee care:
1. Train with a women-specific functional training program especially for pivot sports.
2. Work with a strength coach who stays current on training topics unique to the female athlete, particularly ACL injury prevention strategies.
3. Get rid of extra pounds and maintain an ideal body weight. Every extra pound you carry puts an extra four pounds of pressure on your knee when you walk.
4. Check your posture. You may have kyphosis (rounded shoulders), lordosis (sloped back), scoliosis (curvature of the spine), flat feet, or other postural problems that can affect the way you walk and put extra pressure on your knees.
5. Train the core, the weakest link in the body. Also train your back and hips to play in an athletic stance, the knee guard position.
6. Prepare properly for your sport. Start a strength and conditioning program 8 to 10 weeks before the season or a new activity. Make sure plyometrics and balance and agility training are part of your overall program. Avoid actions like full squats, where the hips drop below the knees, running downhill, and climbing stairs two at a time.
7. Learn to jump and land correctly. Jump straight as an arrow and land light as a feather, on your toes to your heels with your hips, knees, and ankles flexed. Maintain a neutral spine position with a straight back. Keep your chest over your knees and your knees over your feet. Land on the ball of your foot and dip into your heel. Always perform jump training exercises on the proper surface, examples: landing on mats or a wooden floor.
8. Always be mindful of using impeccable technique during training, especially with jump training.
9. Train functionally to improve performance and prevent injuries. Functional meaning, closed chain activities (feet on the ground) that mimic the skills you would use in your sport. Most of your training should be done off of exercise machines. Start with bodyweight activities and then progress to light weight external resistance exercises. Once the form is mastered with basic functional training exercises, move on to more advanced forms of strength training, e.g. using heavier weights or training with the Olympic lifts.
10. Improves agility and reaction times. Women contract their muscles more slowly than men, and women take longer to generate maximum force. Train more like tennis players. They maintain an athletic stance, stay low, and move with smaller, quicker steps. They also know how to stop, cut, twist and turn. You don’t see many tennis players tearing their anterior cruciate ligament.
11. Strengthens the hamstrings, not just the quads. The hamstrings (back of the thigh) are often weaker than the quads in female athletes. The hamstrings help stabilize the ACL and can also help improve vertical jumping.
12. Protect yourself against overtraining and overuse. Avoid intense or prolonged workouts for long periods of time that create additional friction on the joint and increase the risk of overuse injuries.
13. Minimize knee stress while cycling. Make sure your bike seat is at the proper height and avoid high gears.
14. Check your sneakers. Worn or ill-fitting shoes can put your knees at risk. Outside of your workouts, avoid wearing high heels regularly.
15. Seek help for alignment. Orthotics, custom-made foot supports, can help correct misalignment of the feet or legs.
Do exercises that strengthen your knee. Do these exercises to strengthen the muscles (quadriceps, hamstrings, and glutes) that help stabilize and protect your knees:
one. One-legged quarter curves: Holding onto a wall, lift and extend one leg forward, slowly lower a quarter of the way down bending the other knee. Move your hips back as if you were going to sit on a chair. Hold for five seconds, slowly straighten, repeat 10 times, and switch legs.
two. straight leg raises: Lie on your back, bend one knee with your foot on the floor; slowly raise your straight leg about 12 inches off the ground, keeping your hips and lower back on the ground; hold five seconds, then slowly lower; repeat 10 times, then switch legs (add light ankle weights if comfortable, avoid this exercise if you have back problems).
3. standing squats: This exercise has been proven to increase vertical jump and help create a co-contraction of the quads and hamstrings. Stand with your feet hip-width apart. Lower into a squat position with your hips moving back as if you were going to sit on a chair. The knees should remain in line with the feet, with no “wobbly” knees. Avoid excessive leaning forward, keep your chest up and look straight ahead. It is important to keep your heels on the ground and not let your knees protrude in front of your toes.
Four. lunges: Stand up straight, feet together, hands out to the sides. Lunge comfortably forward with one leg, keeping your knee over your foot and behind your toes. Sit into the lunge until the knee of the trailing leg almost touches the ground. Keep your torso upright, chest and chin up. Push through the heel of your front leg to lift up and back up to the starting position, then repeat with the other leg.
5. Stability Ball Leg Curls: This exercise is excellent for strengthening the hamstrings. Lie on your back on an exercise mat, with your hands and arms down by your sides, place both heels directly on a stability ball. Make sure the stability ball fits your height. Raise your hips off the floor until your body forms a straight line from your head to your ankles. Perform a leg curl, bringing the ball to your buttocks, return to the starting position, then repeat. Keep your hips raised the entire time for 12-15 reps. Do 1-3 sets.
Stretches for quadriceps and hamstrings:
one. Standing Quad Stretch: When standing, reach with your right hand and pull the heel of your right foot toward your buttocks. Keep your right knee pointed down. Hold for 20-30 seconds, switch legs. No bounces.
two. Standing Hamstring Stretch: Stand in front of an exercise bench, place the heel of one leg on top of the bench. Keep both knees soft (slight knee bend). Bend at the hips, keep your chest up and reach with both hands to your toes. Hold for 20-30 seconds, switch legs. No bounces.