Knee Pain

Pain is commonly felt in the front of the knee joint. This is usually due to a problem with the back of the knee cap rubbing on the leg bone. It is often called chondromalacia patellae. The pain is usually felt after exercise and prolonged sitting. There may also be clicking. This condition normally gets better on its own in time, but can persist for years. The good news about your knee problem is that you can speed up the recovery process, if you follow this advice.

Modify your exercise to cycling in low gears, gentle jogging, swimming etc. Do the following;
Knee exercises
Sitting on a bed, keep your leg flat and bend your toes towards your head as much as possible, keep this position for ten seconds and release. Repeat this ten times.

Sitting on a bed, keep your leg flat, pull your toes towards your head as above. Then raise the leg off the bed to a height of six inches and hold. Keep in this position for ten seconds and release. Repeat this ten times.

Hang your legs over the edge of the bed, raise the lower part of your leg so your knee is straight and hold in this position for ten seconds and release. Repeat this ten times.

Sit swinging your leg over the side of the bed or chair to maintain the mobility of your knee. Do this for two minutes. When you find these exercises easy to do you should add in the following ones.

Sitting on a chair, place foot under bottom edge of desk or bed with the leg almost straight. Lift whole leg from the top upwards as though trying to lift the desk or bed off the ground. You will feel your thigh muscles tighten and become tired. Hold in that position for 10 seconds then relax. Repeat exercise 20 times and then the same with the other leg. Repeat exercise three times a day for three or more weeks. Then perform hamstring exercises described below.

Hamstring Lengthening Exercises
Whilst sitting on chair straighten leg with heel resting on ground. Rest both hands on knee and keeping leg straight slowly slide hands down the front of the knee towards the foot until you feel a tightening and slight pain in your hamstrings (tendons behind the knee). Once tension is felt hold position for 10 seconds, then relax. Repeat procedure 20 times with both legs and perform the whole exercises three times a day for three weeks. You will find that little by little your hamstrings loosen and you will be able to move your hands further down your shin towards your foot.

You will need to restrict your athletic exercise and do the above exercises for a month to get an improvement. You may then gradually return to your normal exercise. The pain may recur at some time in the future. You should then follow the above advice again. If your knee is not better after a month please see your doctor.

Further information

This article published on
08 February 2006

Next review date 2/1/2013

Categorie(s)

Sports injuries
First aid
Sports injuries

Areaof the body

Legs, knees, ankles, feet

Male or female?
Both