The Knee Joint

 Did you know that your knee is the largest joint in your body? It also happens to be one of the most complex joints and used throughout your body. Because our knees are so regularly used in almost every aspect of the day it is important that they are functioning correctly.

Think of your knees as a cupboard hinge, when the hinge is in correct alignment, supported by attachments and lubricated sufficiently a nice smooth movement occurs and the cupboard door opens. If one of these components is missing the hinge doesn’t function optimally and therefore the potential for damage to occur increases.

The same can be said for our knees they need to be correctly aligned, supported and lubricated in order for them to function correctly.

Often we don’t notice a missing component until our knee or knees begin to ache after exercise or daily activities. How do your knees fair? Do they ache after exercise or even after a day at work? Do they maintain correct alignment during sitting or climbing stairs?

Here are a couple of key points to assist you in ensuring your knees are functionally optimally:

Hip/Knee/Ankle

If you attend one of our clinics or have in the past, you should already know what I’m am about to say. During lower limb movements always ensure that your knee is the midpoint between your hip and your ankle as this assists in ensuring the knee joint is correct alignment.

Push through your heels

Due to spending large amounts of our days sitting down, our hamstrings and glutes tend to “turn off” or “Go on holidays” as they are not required during sitting. This often leads to individuals pushing through the front of their foot during movements activating the quadriceps and calves over the hamstrings and glutes. This over-activation is often associated with loading the knee excessively and is a common cause of knee pain. So next time to sit down, attack set of stairs or stand up remember to push through your heels to unload your knee and activate your large posterior muscles.

Get stable

How often do you lose your balance or need to stand on one leg? Being able to stand on one leg to balance, hop out the way of something, step over a crack or walk along an uneven surface are important everyday skills. These activities require stability through our lower limb joints especially the knee. Next time you’re out and about think about how stable your knee is? Can you stand on one leg for 60sec with minimal knee movement? No, if you can’t then it’s time to work on your balance and stability if yes try it with a slightly bent knee? Knee stability is very important in ensuring when uncontrollable circumstance comes along and you need to hop, skip and jump your way out – you are able to without worrying about your knees.

Optimum Health Solutions offer a wide range of training options and facilities to ensure that no matter what stage your knees are at there is a suitable form of exercise available. From acute rehabilitation to athlete’s Optimum Health solutions have two hydrotherapy pools and several gym facilities staffed by highly knowledgeable and trained staff to assist you in improving your knee function.

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