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How to Exercise and Avoid Knee Injury
Fitness | February 07, 2018
One of the common roadblocks towards getting in shape and working out is knee injury. There are many causes of knee injury, like poor alignment, forgetting to warm up and cool down, not taking the time to stretch for recovery, and pushing yourself too far during a workout.
If you have a knee injury, get it checked out by a doctor first. After you’re given the clear to work out again, read my article here on how to Exercise with Knee Pain. I give out some examples of what you can do to address it, including exercises and exercise styles.
I’d also highly recommend checking out my Postural Therapy Series, so you can be taken step-by-step through a series of different exercises that focus on relieving common complaints like knee pain.
But if you want to avoid getting any pain in the first place, here’s what you should pay attention to. I found a very interesting study here that talks all about a knee injury program for sports, and found its recommendation easy to apply for people like you and me who regularly workout at home or at the gym.
According to the study, a program for knee injury prevention,
“Should consist of a combination of plyometric training, strength and power exercises, balance and dynamic stabilization training, core strengthening, technique training, and/or sports-specific drills.”
My workouts on YouTube and at the ZGYM all incorporate these kinds of exercises.
The Jumping Rope and Cardio Shred series are all great for conditioning and cardiovascular health. To get the best of both worlds when it comes to strength, cardio and core work, try my Summer Shred workouts. For balance, stabilization, and flexibility try my Stretch & Tone series to help combine all of these benefits into a single, effective workout.
Another important part of preventing knee injury is strengthening your feet. There are many benefits of going barefoot to strengthen your feet, which I’ve written about here. Going barefoot is an inexpensive way of training your feet, and making them stronger. When you do this, you’re able to create a better base of support for the entire body, including the knees, which can get injured due to weak feet. You’ll be able to move around with more stability, and prevent other injuries from happening as well.
If you want to know how to further strengthen your feet, I talk about it here as well, and give a great foam rolling exercise that you can do at the comfort of your home.
Remember to go slow when it comes to training your feet, and do it consistently.
In some cases, another cause of knee injury is pushing yourself too hard with your workouts. Maybe your energy just dropped and you’re just trying to hurry up and finish working out. Or you’ve been doing only intense workouts for days and you’re ready to crash and burn. All of these things could be signs that you’re not giving yourself enough time to recover or giving yourself a day of lighter, but still active, exercise to prepare yourself for a different day of more intensity.
If you’re still sore from the previous day of training, are a beginner, or recovering from sickness or injury, try doing one of my Low Impact workouts, which are not only great alternatives to some of my other more active, intense routines, but are ideal for those of you with sensitive joints and injuries in areas like the knees and lower back.
With all of this in mind, here’s the rundown on how to exercise to avoid knee injury:
- Follow the weekly schedule posted in ZGYM
- Do exercises or workouts involving plyometric training, strength, balance, core, and stabilization, like my different Jumping Rope, Summer Shred, and Power Yoga series.
- Use Postural Therapy as needed to recover from or prevent knee injury
- Go Low Impact on days when your body can’t handle a lot of stress from high intensity or if you need to be more mindful of your joints and knees
- Strengthen your feet by going barefoot
All of these things will be sure to help you avoid knee injury as much as possible. Even if you do slip up and find yourself injured, you at least know there is a way to recover once you’ve gotten permission from a doctor to resume exercising. At the end of the day, remember that prevention is key!
Private Member |
yilan city, taiwan, taiwan
The timing for this post is perfect. I will be doing the postural therapy #3 for knees before bed (still not sure if my issue is internal or external rotation.) I know why my knee has been hurting (for weeks now). I started taking adult ballet for over a year and added another class 2x a week. Its been 30 years since I danced ballet and despite doing Zuzka and yoga it’s just a different mind/body connection I don’t have anymore. I know in my mind I should initiate my turnout from my hips, but my body can’t and I must be forcing it in my knee. No matter how much I think I am doing it right during class, I must not be. I’m not going to stop going to ballet so I will do Zuzka’s postural therapy (thank you) and maybe lay off the weighted sumo squats and lunges for a bit.
Private Member |
switzerland/, france
if it is (I guess typically) the turn-out that makes your knee hurt, it is lack of range of mobility in the hips. I recommend you invest into the online course (so did I) for turn-out , at EasyFlexibility webisite.
Private Member |
yilan city, taiwan, taiwan
Thanks Laila and TraceyM1, sounds like EasyFlexibility is a necessary investment for me.
Private Member |
caseyville, illinois
I agree with Laila, look at easyflexibility. i have all their stuff almost. It was actually here, Zuzka, that introduced this to us!
Private Member |
switzerland/, france
yes, I am ever so grateful to Zuzka who made us discover that technique (I believe from Yoga 33 and a few onwards). I wish she would have taken it to the next level, but probably needs an actual certification ?
Private Member |
caseyville, illinois
She probably has it as it not too expensive and such. She sure could make the routines much more doable. MAybe even figure out a way to combine some of them so we can get more done if that makes sense? I love the arm and upper body stuff they do.
Private Member |
You might want to consider targeting the flexibility in your hips outside of ballet class. Generally as a adults we sit a lot more so our hips tighten up. You might have to do a few specific hip stretches for a few minutes everyday. I like to do martial arts but I also sit for working and commuting several hours a day. So I have to work on my hip flexors.
Private Member |
yilan city, taiwan, taiwan
Thanks for your advice Erlin. My hips are pretty open and limber, but for sure I sit a lot during the day and I know that doesn’t help. I do yoga almost daily, so I’m not tight but I’ve had hip flexor issues last year; they were on fire from these TRX Hiit classes I was doing 2x a week. So I was just stretching the crap out of them which was the worst thing (just found out via ATHLEAN-X) I should of been strengthening my hip flexors (which is what my ballet teacher was telling me earlier.) My hips story is really very long and boring, but basically about 5 years ago I twisted my pelvis playing rugby and after x-rays come to find out one hip bone is way bigger on one side (chiro said I must of fallen as a kid and stunted the growth from the trauma), so my lower vertebrae does this little S sideways curve. Its a miracle I don’t suffer from back pain, but yes, there is something going on (or not) in my hips. I just did this Hip Mobility flow 90/90 FRC/ Kinstretch on Youtube checking out advice from other Z warriors, and I will have to probably do this every day. I still have a lot to learn and am very curious about the Zaichik Stretching Technique and hip mobility. Thanks for the feedback and advice!
Private Member |
ga, united states
My knee started to hurt yesterday afternoon… Who knew I needed this artical! Great tips and I will be putting them into practice to ensure it gets better quickly! Thank you for all your help!
Private Member |
switzerland/, france
I have no knee pain and never had (except when growing up..which was kinda normal).
the knees, like elbows, are part of the type of joints that called “hinge joint” and they move only in one direction.
I typically have a tight left hip and if I force it…all the strain will go in the knee. it is a warning sign for me that I am “pushing” the wrong place, and not focusing enough on releasing around hips. kinesiological stretching (also now known as zaichik stretching technique) has been instrumental to improve this as well as body awareness. I mix it up with PAILS/RAILS or PNF techniques.
Private Member |
Hi Zuzka! I have a question for you, how do you create the schedule for the Zgym? Do you follow a formula? I’m asking because I’m learning how to fight Krav Maga, and I’m trying to structure my krav maga training so that I can learn the skill and not injure myself by going for too much. I’m trying to do your power yoga/ stretch and tone workouts as cool downs and active rest days, but it hasn’t worked out quite as well for me as when I follow your schedule and I feel run down. Any advice is appreciated, you’re the best!
Private Member |
lake tahoe, nv, usa
Krav Maga can be quite intense as any martial art. I would recommend you to follow my workout schedule and schedule your training on Wednesdays and Sundays. Or skip your high intensity workout on days when you do Krav Maga and do a Stretch & Tone or other simple routine focused on stretching after your training.
Private Member |
Awesome Zuzka Thank you!!!! I’m going to try it!!!
Private Member |
I recently solved my bilateral knee pain – which was actually misdiagnosed as early onset osteoarthritis. It turns out I had a pinched nerve in my lower spine. I saw an osteopath who figured it out within 5 minutes and it took about 5 sessions to start seeing results. While I was injured, I couldn’t do squats, lunger, or even hold plank so most exercises were completely out of the question.
Private Member |
mza, argentina
Hi Zu! I have a question:
I am feeling a stifness in my left knee, I don´t know how to describe it. I used to do pistols without problems because I´ve been always very flexible but from some months ago I don´t feel that flexibility in my left knee most of all. I can´t do pistols because i feel like something “hard” or stiff instead of the “elastic” thing I used to feel when i bend my knee. Same with squats (it´s hard to go deep) and with arabesque to the sides. What can i do to fix it?? some stretches? Could it be caused because of long time without doing those exercises (like pistols)??
Private Member |
lake tahoe, nv, usa
It might be due to the sliding surfaces around your muscles and connective tissues. It’s possible they’re stuck and not sliding. Maybe the muscle dynamics around the knee is in imbalance. Stretching helps sometimes but often times it doesn’t solve the problem. If you’ve been already stretching your quads, hamstrings and calves and the problem still exists, then chances are, that more stretching will not be very helpful. I’m in the process of creating special series that will address these issues.
Private Member |
mza, argentina
Thanks Zu! I do stretch but don´t know if enough. Maybe I have to do more of that kind of series (of wich you have a lot!) we tend to think that we don’t work so hard on the body and postpone it. And it is just the opposite: they are the most useful thing to work hard the other days!! I’m very proud of you and everything you learn and improve every day. you make us see that there’s always room for improvement. So inspirational!! I´m looking forward to the new series!!. Love,