5 exercises to help you train around knee pain

Knee pain is one of the most common types of chronic pain people have, but when your joint is in pain, it doesn’t make it any easier for you to deal with. This pain is even harder to deal with when you’re trying to keep up with your lower body training routine.

PhysiotherapistDaniel Giordano, DPT, PT, CSCS of Bespoke Treatments Yes solution. Here, he works with NASM-CPT personal trainer Vaughn Gray to show that even if your knees aren’t at 100 percent, you can still train your lower body. As always, consult a doctor or physical therapist before starting a new exercise routine and/or if you have severe knee pain.

Before starting the movement, Gray demonstrates the hip hinge. With a strap around his foot, he shoots his hips back, starting the movement from the hips. “Once we can transfer this mechanical stress to the hips, it allows [us] to take the stress off the knees while moving the body,” Giordano said. You can watch the action in the video above, as well as the workout series briefly described below.

5 Exercises to Help You Train Around Knee Pain

Side Belt Step

Step to the side with one foot, Then step back with the mini foot strapped to the instep, keeping the other foot steady. Repeat 8 to 12 times per side, “to get those glutes fired up and take the pressure off the knees,” says Giordano.

Standing hydrant

Place the mini straps under your knees. Bend your heels toward your hips and lift your raised leg to the side. “What we’re doing here is working the gluteus medius again, these glutes take the pressure off the knee,” Giordano said. “The stronger our glutes, the less stress on our knees.” Repeat 8 to 12 times on each side.

Lifting weights

“Now our hips are moved by these bands Excited. Now we’re going to start doing a load boost in the goblet position,” Giordano said. Grab a weight and a step or platform. Keeping one foot on the step and locking the heel, then the other foot goes straight up, pedaling, tapping, and then slowly lowering. Be careful not to shift the pressure forward onto the knee, Giordano explains, because you want to maintain mechanical pressure in the hip immediately before you start reloading the knee. Feel the contraction through your hips before you come down the steps. Repeat 8 to 12 times on each side.

Reverse Lunge

Now it’s time for the reverse lunge. Hold the weight in front of your torso, then step back, pressing through your front foot, and then step back. “A common mistake I see is people start pushing with their back foot. We don’t want that to happen,” Giordano said. “We want to go back to that reverse lunge and push up through this heel to activate the glutes on that side. The glutes are stronger and the knees are less stressed.” Aim for 8 to 12 reps on each side.

High Heel Goblet Squat

For the fifth in this series The first and final exercise to strengthen your glutes when you have knee pain is to do the goblet squat while holding the weights with your heels raised. Just like we do with the hip hinge, start at the hips and work your way down, keeping your chest up and your core tight. This keeps the weight load on the hips.

“Some of you may be asking why the heels are raised because we want to reduce the activity of the calf muscles so there is less stress on the knees when they start to heal,” Giordano said. And added that you should focus less on calf activity. Do 8 to 12 reps on each side.

Giordano left us with helpful end-of-life words in this lesson: “Remember at the beginning, let’s take mechanical pressure and put it on the hips, strengthen the hips, so you can Training through a knee injury.”

Perri is a New York City-born writer; she holds a BA in Psychology from Columbia University , is also a Culinary Institute graduate of the Plant-Based Natural Gastronomy Institute, which is now the Natural Gastronomy Center of the School of Culinary Education. Her work has appeared in The New York Post, Men’s Magazine, Rolling Stone, Oprah Daily, Insider.com, Architectural Digest, Southern Living, and more. She’s probably seen Dave Matthews Band in your hometown, and she’ll never turn down a Bloody Mary. Learn more at VeganWhenSober.com.