Knee Exercises
Getting the Best Results

Knee exercises can be done to strengthen and stretch muscles, which can help prevent injuries and speed up healing. If done properly, they can be really effective, so here I will share with you my top tips for getting the best results and help you find the right exercises for you.

Lets start with the basics:

1) Get motivated: About a third of my patients don’t bother doing their knee exercises and these are always the ones that take the longest to recover. Don’t let that become you!
2) Breathe normally: Don’t hold your breath
3) Have a regular time each day that you do your exercises
4) Pick a daily trigger to remind you to do your exercises eg an alarm, brushing your teeth, boiling the kettle

Getting The Best Results

Here you will find my top ten tips on getting the best results from knee exercises.

1) Start Slow

Don’t overdo things especially early on as it will do more harm than good. See the working at the right level section for more advice on this. If an exercise is too difficule at the beginning, revisit it every month or so to find out when you are ready to add it in to your knee rehab programme

2) Progress Slowly but Steadily

Aim to progress your exercises every 3-4 days eg increase number of repetitions, add weights or progress to the next stage. As muscles strengthen/stretch, they need to be worked harder to improve further. Remember, each exercise is different so you will progress at different rates for different exercises – don’t expect to be able to do the same number of reps for each exercise

3) Be Consistent

Get into a regular habit of doing your knee exercises. Pick a regular time of the day, or a link it with a specific daily activity

4) Be Realistic

It takes time to build up strength and to stretch muscles. Whilst you should start to notice a difference after 2-3 weeks, you are likely to need to do exercises for at least 3 months to really notice a long term difference

5) Take a Break

Sometimes, doing exercises can get boring. Give yourself one or two days off a week off to help keep you motivated.

6) Variety is the Spice of Life

People often find it helps to split their exercises into 2 groups and do one lot at a time for a bit of variety. There is also usually more than one way to perform an exercise eg starting in a different position which can help keep things fresh. Or try exercising with someone else - that can be a great way to keep motivated.

7) Acknowledge Progress

Every few weeks think back to where you were at the beginning of everything and see how far you’ve come – eg more movement, stronger, more flexible, able to do activites you couldn’t do before, less pain.

8) Think of the Goal

Remind yourself why you are doing each exercise – you are much more likely to stick with an exercise if you know how it is going to help you. Each exercise on this site will have an explanation of what it is aiming to achieve

9) Do it Right

Follow the exercise descriptions and every few days re-read them – I’ve had clients who have started off doing things slightly wrong and never noticed, so they haven’t achieved the best results possible

10) Sometimes Less is More

It is better to do less repetitions and perform the exercise properly than it is to try and increase the number of repetitions so quickly that you lose the precision.

Find The Right Exercises For You

Want to get going with knee exercises that are right for you? Choose from the following exercise plans. Also check out the page with my top tips on exercising effectively and safely

a) General programme of exercises for knee pain: Choose from beginners, intermediate and advanced

b) Exercises for specific knee injuries/conditions: Arthritis, Osgood Schlatters, Bakers Cyst, Housemaids Knee, Knee sprain, MCL sprain, Meniscus Tear Chondromalacia Patella, Knee Bursitis and Iliotibial Band Syndrome

c) Knee Stretches Try out simple tests to find out which of your muscles need stretching and how to stretch the quads, hamstrings calves, glutes and Iliotibial Band (ITB)

d) Knee strengthening exercises: choose from beginners intermediate and advanced

e) Pro’s can choose by muscle group: Quads, Hamstrings, Glutes and Calves

f) Balance/proprioception exercises: Essential for sports men and those recovering from knee injuries

Go to Knee Treatment Guide or Homepage

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