This article is a transcribed edited summary of a video Bob and Brad recorded in May of 2024. For the original video go to https://youtu.be/VG82PzLzLfk
Mike: Are you unknowingly sabotaging your knee health?
Brad: Well, join us as we uncover seven bad habits wreaking havoc on your knee. And believe it or not, what I'm doing here is not one of them.
Mike: Looks like a fun game.
Brad: So what I'm doing with my kneecap is a simple mobilization and it's actually good for your knee, but let's go on to the first bad habit.
Mike: It is not moving your knee. So, whether your knee is healthy or arthritic or painful, it's important to move it, because that helps lubricate the joint, improve circulation, and oftentimes, can even help reduce the pain you may be experiencing.
Brad: Right, a good example is if you're sitting for a long time and you simply want to fully extend and bend your knee back and forth every half hour or so, 10 times is a nice simple habit that's going to help your knees. All right, the next one is simply standing with your knees locked. Now, a lot of people may have this habit and they're not even aware of it. We have had people that had knee pain and we simply have them stand and think about bending their knees slightly, taking pressure off and really changing and making the knees feel much better. This is really important if you happen to hyperextend and when you go all the way back, your knee actually bends back in the negative direction a little bit, that's even more sensitive. So, keep your knees slightly bent, be thinking about it, and do that on a regular basis.
Brad: Mike, what's next?
Mike: Next, is actually walking with a straight knee as well. So oftentimes, when people are walking, they put their foot out in front of them, heel strike with a straight knee. This is going to put more stress on your joints and your leg, including your foot, knee, hip, and even lower back. But when the knee comes, just think about walking with a bent knee. If you just think about leaving your knees bent as you walk, your feet will do what they need to do. As long as you're not extending straight out, just keep them bent, and your walking will improve and take pressure off that knee joint.
Brad: Right, another little trick is simply thinking about instead of heel striking, getting that jolt through your system and your knee. Think about landing on your forefoot or a flat foot and that automatically puts a slight bend in the knee and then it happens. So, do that every now and then. Think about it and be nice to those knees while you walk.
Mike: If it feels a little awkward with your standard shoes, you can try walking in your house barefoot or in slippers, or if you happen to have flat shoes like me, it's not an issue then.
Brad: But there you go. All right, let's go to the next one. Weak knees or allowing the leg muscles to become weak. If you're sedentary and you're not doing a lot with weight-bearing activities, your knees will become weaker and that can cause that situation where your knee actually buckles and you feel like you're going to fall. I've had that with my sister. We've been working on that. It's been going quite well. Mike, you have some more additions.
Mike: Typically, the weaker your muscles are in your legs, the more you're going to rely on your joints to do everyday activities, which can put stress on them and cause more damage. So, it's good to keep them strong. That doesn't mean you have to go to the gym and do a bunch of barbell squats and leg press stuff. Simply walking or doing body-weight exercises, or functional movements, as long as you can do these without any pain, they're good to do.
Brad: Right. So, wall squats like I'm doing here are a really nice way to strengthen the knees, the quads, and the hamstrings. Only 10 a day, maybe twice a day is a little thing that's going to help you keep them strong.
Mike: Worst habit number five is lacking range of motion. What we mean by that is how much your knee can actually bend and straighten. Oftentimes, if you're lacking one of the ranges, it can lead to issues such as pain or even trouble walking sometimes.
Brad: So, when we're talking about the range of motion, a lot of people may think bending and straightening the knee is range of motion, but actually, you want to go to the end range. In other words, make sure that your knee goes fully straight. You can do it by putting your heel on the floor, sitting on a chair, or up on a stool. And what we're looking for is that you get completely straight. Now, some people hyperextend naturally or it bends backwards a little bit. That's okay. That's just the way you were born. One good way to do it is to just check one knee to the other. One might go completely straight and the other one not, and you may want to work on that and gently stretch it.
Brad: The other way is flexion. Now, end-range normal flexion is actually if you sit down and just pull your knee up to your chest. So, a simple stretch like this, but done three to five times, a few times a day is a great way to maintain the full range of motion. It makes a big difference in the long term.
Mike: The number six thing to avoid is developing overly tight muscles. Now, there are lots of muscles that actually, connect to the knee joint and can affect it, including the IT band, which Brad is showing off with his white stripes there.
Mike: Then you have your rectus femoris, which is actually a two-joint muscle running from your hips down to your knees.
Mike: You also have your calf muscles, which are on the underside of your knee, but they connect up as well.
Mike: And one of the biggest culprits most people have issues with are the hamstrings, which are behind the leg here. So, we're going to show you a stretch you can do for the hammies.
Brad: There you go. So, for the hamstring, a nice stretch to do, if you're able to stand if you have good balance. This is the way I do mine. I simply put my leg up or you can do it seated like Mike is. Now, straighten your knee out, keep your back straight, and think about bringing your chest towards your knee, not your nose, and go like this.
Brad: And I already feel a nice stretch here. When you stretch, don't get too aggressive, be gentle with it, relax, and breathe. It makes a huge difference in allowing that muscle to stretch. You don't want to force it, allow it to stretch. Mike, what do you have to say?
Mike: Now, if you have really tight knees and hamstrings, some people just getting your knee flat is enough, that's all you need to do. If this is even troublesome, maybe your back's a little tight, you can certainly lean back and try there.
Mike: Then over time, if it can get to this position, that's when you worry about trying to bend forward with a straight back.
Brad: So, we do have some videos strictly on stretching your hamstrings. Look at that for more options. There are about five or six good options that will fit any one of you.
Mike: And the last worst thing you can do for your knees is develop bad habits. Now, we have two different things we're talking about. I'm showing one here. So, it's actually sitting with your leg underneath you or where your knee is in an extremely bent position for a prolonged period of time.
Mike: If you're just like this for a minute or so, it's fine, but sitting like this for an hour, you're going to be pretty stiff and this is already uncomfortable for me.
Brad: Okay, the next one is a dynamic thing or when you're going upstairs is very common where the knee actually brings or collapses inward or medially we call it. So, we're going to use this as a step. As we go up here, it's very common that people allow their knees to go in, either from habit or weakness in this direction. Let's show this in the front view. It's much clearer. So, when you stand up and as you start to bring your body up, the knee will go in and then it kind of comes out, and each time it's "whoop" and then "whoop," and that's hard on the knee.
Brad: So, look down, and see what your knees are doing as you're going up and down the stairs. They should stay in line with your toe and keep in that plane, and you'll be much better off.
Mike: Do your knees actually make that noise when you go upstairs?
Brad: Well, yes, you should hear 'em. All right now, if you do notice that your knee does go "whoop" when you go up and down steps, Mike has a really simple exercise to help correct it and it does not take a lot of effort.
Mike: So, if you stand sideways at your staircase, hold onto a rail for support. If you're having an issue tracking in, you may need to use your arms to help stabilize a little bit. So, what you're going to do is try to simply stand up sideways and then slowly lower yourself back down. Notice when I'm doing this, try to keep your knee in line. If you slightly go out for a second, it's okay, just try to get it to stabilize.
Mike: This is going to help strengthen these lateral hip muscles and your quads as well, which is normally a culprit if you have weak muscles there, while you're doing the "whoop" stance.
Brad: Yeah, good. Now, if you go through all these, I think everyone will probably find at least one of these habits you may be doing, correct them, use what we talked about, or go to Bob and Brad on YouTube. We've got every kind of video on knee correction and must-do strengthening, et cetera. But we have one specific one right here, right?
Mike: Yeah. So, if you want to check out more videos on specific knee stretches and strengthening exercises, check out "Top 10 Strengthening Exercises for Painful Knees."
Brad: Ooh, top 10 strengthening exercises for painful knees. There you go.
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