Building strength is the best thing you can do to treat and prevent knee arthritis. With that in mind, it’s important to choose strength exercises which won’t aggravate your knee pain and arthritis. These low impact exercises for knee arthritis will help you build strength without stressing your joints.
Strong glutes and hamstrings are vital for treating knee arthritis. The glute bridge is one of the safest and most effective exercises for building strong hips.
Isometric exercises are a great way hto build strength without stressing your joints. The wall sit targets important leg muscles to protect your knee with minimal impact on the joint.
Toe Taps
Improving balance and building glute med strength in one exercise. Toe Taps are a great low impact knee exercise to protect your knee joint and treat arthritis.
The Step Up
The step up is a functional exercise that improves balance and single leg strength. Hold weights in each hand for a more challenging variation.
The Step Down
The step down is an eccentric exercise that particular targets your quad muscle and tendon (a common place for knee pain). It also improves strength, balance and control to improve side to side imbalances for less knee arthritis.
The Banded Hip Hinge
The hip hinge movement protects your knees while strength training. It also protects your knees during many daily activities. The banded hip hinge is my favorite that gets the hamstrings and glutes involved as well.
Squats are an important low impact knee exercise to treat knee arthritis. The box squat is a safe variation to start. Having a box directly behind allows you to ‘bail’ from the movement if there is any pain or simply not feeling strong enough.
Lungings is one of the best exercises to improve single leg strength and side to side imblanaces that lead to knee arthritis. The reverse lunge is safer for your knees than the forward lunge. Using assistance allows you to control how much impact goes through the knee, making it a safe variation to start.
Building strong glutes and hamstring is the best way to treat and prevent knee arthritis. The kettlebell lift is another fullbody, functional exercise that targets this muscle group with minimal impact at the knee.
Improving movement and building strength is the BEST thing you can do to prevent and treat knee arthritis. These low impact knee exercises will help you feel confident in your exercise routine while building strength without stressing your joints.
For the last 10 years I’ve been helping adults build the strength and confidence to live active, healthy, and happy lives. My free program ‘Solving Pain With Strength’ gives you a step-by-step, approachable way to build strengrth to limit joint pain and arthritis. Download it below and get started feeling better today!
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Solving Pain With Strength: An Approachable, Step-by-Step Strength Program For Adults Limited By Joint Pain