Are you over 45 and have knee pain? Have you been told that you have arthritis or wear and tear? Time to strengthen your quads!

Now we are not expecting you to gain the muscles of this chap, but we can all get stronger and benefit from resistance or ‘weight’ training.  Even The Arthritis Foundation are giving simple weight training routines now and Harvard medical school are giving 5 weight training tips for people with arthritis!

Do you know what the number one management plan is for people with osteoarthritis in the knee? Yep, you guessed it, strengthening exercises.  Not just easy ones mind you, ones to make your muscles work really hard so they get stronger and do you know what typically happens? People’s pain starts to reduce and frequently goes away altogether.  Within 6-12 weeks you can significantly improve your strength by doing a routine 2-3 times a week. That’s brilliant news right?!

So, if you have arthritis in your knee get stronger in your quadriceps on the front of your thigh, hamstrings on the back, calf muscles and in the muscles around your hips.  You do not have to become Arnold Schwarzenegger but a little bit of strength training goes a long way.

Why not start with some slow body weight squats, 3 sets of 12 repetitions.

• You can do this standing in front of a chair if that helps
• Feet shoulder width apart.
• ‘Sit’ down back into the movement and make those muscles work hard.  It may feel like you are sticking your bottom out a bit.
• Make sure your body ‘stays square’.  Equal weight on each foot.
• Make sure each knee/thigh line follows the line of each foot.
• Do not let the knees roll in, but do keep your feet flat.
• If you can get to 90° without it being painful then do so. If not just go as low as you are happy to but maybe add a short pause.  Don’t just give up!

If you would like further help and advice just give us a call or book in.

Please share this with anyone you know who suffers with arthritis pain in their knee!