7 Tips to Increase Knee Strength

For people who are athletes or have a family medical history involving osteoporos, at some point of your life you will have to suffer through knee injury. There are certain training programs which help you to prevent yourself from any kind of knee injury. The training could be different for a different person depending upon the body structure and preference of the person. The training could be flexibility exercises, agility drills, strength training and plyometric training. 

Few tips to increase strength of your knee are given below:

1. Straight leg raises:

If you feel that the condition of your knee is not at its best then you should start training your legs. First, start with simple exercises which help you strengthen your quadriceps (muscle in front of your thigh). This exercise may cause little strain or no strain at all in the knee. You will have to lie on your neck down on the floor or any other surface which is flat. Then, bend one of your knees and you should be placing your foot on the floor flatly. Keep your other leg completely straight and then start raising your leg upto the height of the knee of the other leg. Repeat this process 10-15 times, three sets for each leg.

2. Hamstring curls:

These muscles are found at the rear side of your thigh. In this exercise you have to lie down flat on your stomach, then, you have to bring the heels of your legs close to your butt as close as possible. Then, you have to wait in this position for a few seconds. You should be doing at least 3 different sets of 15 reps for each leg. If you are not comfortable doing this exercise by lying down you can do this exercise by standing or by holding on to a chair. After you hold on to the chair, you should be lifting one leg at a time. If you feel that this exercise has become easy, you can start wearing ankle weights and increase its weight slowly.

3. Wall squats:

This is considered to be more advanced exercise and move. Keep your feet flat on the floor. Then, put your back against the wall and you should keep your feet shoulder width apart. Slowly, start bending your knees by keeping your back and pelvis against the wall. You have to hold on to this position for 5-10 seconds. You should not bend too much. If there is a feeling of too much pressure or discomfort in different parts of your knees you should immediately change your position. You have to repeat this exercise several times and hold the position for a few seconds more each time when you start again.

4. Cardio which doesn't harm our knees:

You should accept the fact that gentle is good. You should try to not perform exercises or activities which have a very high impact such as running, sprints and intense aerobics. You should know or try to notice what is right for you and what makes you feel comfortable. You should try to do swimming and other knee related underwater activities. Because they are so much fun and enjoyable. They do not harm the knee or cause strain at your knees. Apart from exercises and training to strengthen your knees you can eat a nutritious and balanced diet which can prove to be helpful. This can help strengthen joints and muscle and help you avoid any swelling and pain of any kind. You should include all types of food items in your diet in correct proportion. Supply of these nutrients could help you strengthen your knee and avoid knee pain: 

5. Calcium:

You need milk to strengthen your bones. You can avoid injury to your knees if your knee bones are very strong. Strong bones also keeps osteoporosis away which is a disease of low quality of bones and this increases the chance of fracture of too. During athletic events your muscles need to be contracted and calcium also helps in the smooth contraction of muscles. You can easily add calcium to your food just by adding cheese to your sandwich, almonds in your yogurt. Some good food sources of calcium are : tofu, sardines, white beans, turnip greens, yogurt, cheese, cottage cheese etc. You should avoid consuming salt, alcohol and caffeine excess as they reduce the positive effect of calcium.

6. Protein:

It is considered as the building block of the body that is of muscles and bones. So, when you are trying to strengthen your knee muscles, you should plan on getting protein in adequate amounts. While you are strengthening you should have 10%-35% of protein in the total calorie intake in your diet. Few sources of protein are meat, soyabean, eggs, nuts and Greek yogurt. If you want a very powerful knee you should be combining a protein rich diet with physical exercise such as lunges and squats.

7. Vitamin C:

This is considered as a very crucial nutrient for so many parts of our body along with your bones. Vitamin C helps in the formation of collagen which is considered a very important protein. This protein is the main reason behind the formation of connective tissues, cartilage and bones. Some food that contain Vitamin C are guava, oranges, broccoli, kiwi, red and green peppers, sprouts etc. The normal Vitamin C requirement of an adult woman's body in a day is said to be 75 mg while an adult man's body need around 90 mg of Vitamin C per day.

Conclusion:

To prevent yourself from any kind of knee injury you should be  exercising regularly. But, at the same time you can have a proper, balanced and healthy diet which has all the nutrients in right proportions which is supporting the health of our muscles and bones. You can support your knee health by following these simple exercises and food programs. Once you start practicing these habits you will start feeling the difference in the intensity of pain in your knees.