Many people develop knee pain at some point, even without intense exercise or getting injured. We spoke to a doctor about how to enhance knee health. To protect your joints, avoid common posture mistakes like crossing your legs. The doctor also recommends three simple exercises that can be done with only a chair.
Does walking up stairs hurt your knees? From sporty youth to silver-haired pensioners, knee pain can afflict anyone.
Yeh Ping-chun
Orthopedic physician
With osteoarthritis, the primary cause is putting stress on joints. When walking, we should adjust our posture, to prevent positions that turn the feet inward. When going up and down stairs, we should make use of the handrail. Move slowly to lighten the load on the knees.
Sitting for long periods. Having a poor posture, such as crossing the legs or turning the feet inward. These are all things not to do. Besides steering clear of these bad habits, the doctor says to try three exercises to protect your knees. All you’ll need is a chair.
First up, leg lifts. Straighten your leg so that it’s parallel with the ground, then point your toe upward to train your quads. The next exercise to hug your knees. Bend a leg toward your body and hold it gently in place with your hands, to strengthen your hamstrings.
Finally, try the backward leg raise. Hold a chair with both hands and bend back your leg at the knee to target your glutes. Strengthening these muscle groups around the knee can improve joint stability and coordination, the doctor says.
Yeh Ping-chun
Orthopedic physician
The advice isn’t to avoid exercise and take it easy. That would actually make your knees worse. Because in the process of exercising, besides training your muscles, you’re also working on joint coordination. During regular exercise, that is enhanced.
In order to live well, you’ll need to stay active. But remember not to overdo the workout, so that your knees stay in shape for the long run.
