Last updated on May 16th, 2024 at 01:06 pm
If you are already practising exercises for knee pain relief, there are a few others you must be aware of that can aggravate the knee problem. These exercises are very common, and chances are that you may be performing them unknowingly.
What are these exercises, and how can they aggravate your knee pain? Let’s find out.
What exercises should I avoid for knee pain?
If you have osteoarthritis in your knee, avoiding exercises that place excessive strain on the joint is important. These typically include two types of activities: high-impact exercises and movements that involve knee bending beyond a 90-degree angle.
Avoid high-impact activities
Exercises that involve repeated pounding on the pavement can be rough on your knees. This includes running, jumping jacks, and plyometrics (think jump squats and box jumps).
While these exercises can be great for building overall fitness, they put a lot of stress on the knee joint. If you’re experiencing knee pain, swap these out for lower-impact activities like swimming, cycling, or using an elliptical trainer.
Avoid exercises with excessive knee flexion
Excessive knee flexion can worsen your OA knee pain1. This could be due to factors like:
- Increased Stress on Articular Cartilage: When you bend your knee excessively (hyperflexion), the bones in the joint come closer together. This stresses the remaining articular cartilage, which can cause pain and accelerate its breakdown.
- Pinching of the Meniscus: The meniscus are two C-shaped pieces of cartilage that act as shock absorbers within the knee joint. These menisci can be pinched between the bones during excessive flexion, leading to pain and inflammation.
- Tightness in the Hamstrings: The hamstrings are muscles on the backside of your thigh that help bend the knee. In individuals with knee OA, tight hamstrings can pull on the back of the knee joint, further increasing flexion and potentially contributing to pain.
There are few common knee exercises that involve knee flexion beyond 90 degrees of angle. Chances are, you may be performing these exercises unknowingly. So, here is the list of exercises that I have shortlisted.
1) Knee bending in quadriceps exercise
When it comes to exercises to avoid, quadriceps stretching exercises should be at the top of the list. These exercises involve bending the knees, which should be avoided in cases of knee arthritis.
It’s generally safe to bend the knee up to 90°, but further bending puts excessive strain on the knees and can worsen arthritic pain.
One common quadriceps stretching exercise involves lying on your stomach, grabbing your leg, and pulling it towards your buttocks. While this provides a good quadriceps stretch, it can be detrimental to the knees and exacerbate arthritic pain.
Some people perform a similar exercise while standing, but this should also be avoided if you have knee arthritis.
Typically, young people don’t experience knee arthritis, and whether or not they should do this exercise depends on their specific knee issues. However, elderly individuals with arthritis should definitely avoid this exercise.
2) Avoid vajrasana in knee pain
The next activity is not really an exercise, it’s a Yogasana called Vajrasana. Those who practice Yoga may be familiar with this pose. We often recommend Vajrasana for various painful conditions such as shin pain.
This pose involves sitting on the lower legs in a kneeling position, which stretches the tibialis anterior muscle and can be beneficial for shin pain. However, if you have painful arthritis, you should avoid this pose.
The bending of the knee to more than 90° and the compression involved can potentially worsen the damage caused by arthritis. Additionally, there is another pose where we lie down in a certain way, and you should completely avoid that one.
3) Squatting exercises to avoid in knee pain
The third exercise on the list of exercises to avoid for knee pain is squatting. Many people perform this exercise at the gym. However, when experiencing knee pain, it’s better to stick to semi-squats or wall squats, where you can use a wall for support.
Full squats put a lot of pressure on the knees and should be avoided in this case.
4) Other activities to avoid
These were exercises, and I’ll give you tips along with them.
- You have to avoid Indian-style toilets: I suggested that you avoid squatting, but we ended up using an Indian-style toilet and had to avoid it. If possible, consider installing a Western-style toilet at home, or create a makeshift commode arrangement.
- Reduce stair climbing: It is impossible to completely stop it because we will encounter stairs in our day-to-day lives. So you should reduce it.
- Avoid crossed-leg sitting: Again, crossing your legs on the floor requires you to flex your knee, putting the knee under stress.
This was about exercises you shouldn’t do. But what are the exercises you should do? The exercises that are recommended for knee pain are aimed at strengthening the knee muscle without excessive knee bending. Read this article 6 Best Exercises for Arthritis in knee Pain Relief for more detail on it.
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Dr Sunit Sanjay Ekka is a physiotherapist in practice for the last 15 years. He has done his BPT from one of the premium Central Government physiotherapy colleges, ie, SVNIRTAR. The patient is his best teacher and whatever he gets to learn he loves to share it on his Youtube channel and blog.
