I thought I’d do something short on some things that I learned about walking with bad knees. A few simple rules (or since “rules” seems a bit strong, let’s say “guidelines,” with the caveat that this is what worked for me personally).
1. Movement is very, very important, so walking is often a good idea for people trying to recover from knee pain. But if you walk too far, and too fast, your knees will just get worse.
2. In the beginning, when you decide to “walk your knees back to good health,” you will almost invariably walk too much. This is partly because you will have forgotten that you now have a pair of bad knees and that walking can be a very stressful activity for them.
3. Go flat for a while. Choose a walking path that has no inclines, no declines. Avoid steps. That will lessen the impact on your joints.
4. Walking downhill is more dangerous than going uphill. Your body weight tends to drop harder on your vulnerable knee joints. I used to pretend, when going downhill, I was stepping on eggs and trying not to break them.
5. Walking is a great idea! It’s one of those functional knee exercises that’s perfectly suited to something you’ll have to do, again and again, for the rest of your life. Sure, you can do all sorts of odd exercises intended to strengthen your knees, and the muscles around them. But it’s hard to beat walking for something practical that you need to master to be able to live a normal life!
Hey, Richard.
ReplyDeleteDo you believe you could've get better without quitting your job?
I work all day in front of a computer and even though I try to take a few breaks and walk a few steps I notice that I tend to flex my knees to much while I'm sitting (crossing my feet under the chair) and that doesn't help at all. Now with que quarantine I am sleeping more and I can also take some small breaks to lay down on the couch and put my feet up. That seems to be helping me a lot.
A couple of weeks ago I was able to ride my bike for 20 km. That was unimaginable a few months ago. Of course later in that week I got too much confident and tried some mountain climbers (I'm training at home with Athlean Xero) and my knees hurt again. But, well, that's life. At least now I know better my limits.
Hi Bruno, i second that question. I too work full time on computer and when i'm at my desk all day it almost feels like im going to my electric chair, and the pain circulates all up and down my legs, when i get up my legs are numb and my knees click. Because of corona i have worked from home doing part time flexi hours last 3 weeks and it has helped massively, but has been a real eye opener, I keep saying just give me 40 grand and i can beat this thing because i need to be in control of when i can move my body. I cant do manual work and i cant do non manual work, im like a mad man trying to find a way out, however my next stop will be asking for full time flexi hours working from home. I ffully back richard up, light flat gradual building up walking is the way to go - my question to richard is how do you know whats too much? Aslong as there is no pain during and after is that ok?
ReplyDeletehi guys, i just had a thought, if anyone wants to make a wattsapp room to share tips, inspiration and questions on knees, then ide be interested. Anyone else interested?
ReplyDeleteSure any takers so far besides you and I?
DeleteHi Richard, not sure if you have any suggestions or experience on exercises or treatments regarding diagnoses of focal chondrosis, narrowing of the patellofemoral joint, subluxed patellas or joint effusion?
ReplyDelete