# Weak knee help



## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

Good old fashioned squats are pretty good for that. But , with a bad knee, it's critical that you do it correctly.

Stand with your legs facing naturally forward about should width apart. pull your tummy in. Now, kind of pooch your butt out behind you (and you can counter balance this by putting your arms out in front, as if you are carrying a tray) and sink down as if you are lowering your butt into a low chair. 
What is really important is that you make your weight go down through your HEELS. You can even lift your toes up, curl them up, to be sure that you are sinking down into your heels. 

Go down as far as you can without pain, then raise yourself back kup to standing. REally stay weighted through your heels . It helps , when coming up, to think of pushing the earth away from you, rather than pushing yourself away from the earth.

Do this about 8 times, rest and do again. Threee sets of 8 to start and add more. But , if it hurts your knee, either bend less or really stick your butt out behind you so that you are going down into your heels.


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## DraftyAiresMum (Jun 1, 2011)

Sounds like it'll do the trick...but just reading it makes me hurt! lol I have just gotten to the point in the last year and a half or so where I can squat down for longer periods of time (not real squats like you're talking about, but I think you know what I mean) without my knee locking up or hurting severely...but I still have to have help getting up, whether it's a hand pushing off from the ground or pulling myself up with a counter or nearby surface, if I stay down too long. 

I also want to do jumping with Aires when he's ready growth-wise, and I know I'll need strong knees for that.

Thanks, tiny!


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## MyBoyPuck (Mar 27, 2009)

I built up the muscles around my weak knee by doing leg extensions. I don't have any equipment, so I just put weights on my ankles and do them sitting on the bed.


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## HollyBubbles (Jun 22, 2009)

If even thinking about that hurts maybe you could wear a knee support while doing the excercises or while riding, incase you have to mount from the ground? I rode with a sprained tendon in my knee for ages around 2 years ago, and the only way I could get on at all (Onto my little 15.2hh mare :lol was to be wearing a good knee support. -And against the advice of my physiotherapist I ended up showjumping that way for a few months too :lol:

Good luck


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## DraftyAiresMum (Jun 1, 2011)

I do have a nice knee brace (if I can find it lol) that I could wear. 

I know that losing some weight will help take the pressure off my knee and make it easier to get in the saddle. I'm working on it, but as it usually is with weight loss, it's slow going. However, I am down at least one pant size in the past few weeks. Figure this one out: I moved from being a cashier at work to working in the back sorting linens, which is a more active job, and I GAINED enough weight to go up TWO pant sizes in a matter of less than two months! Now that I'm back as a cashier, the weight is almost melting back off.


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## flytobecat (Mar 28, 2010)

I tore a minor ligament in my one of knees in my 20's. I was going to have surgery, but my sports doctor wanted to try PT first. Some of the exercises we did were squats, weight leg presses (no lifting weights), scooting around on a wheeled stool from room to room, and stairs (lots of stairs backwards and forwards). I always wore a knee brace when exercising so my knee cap wouldn't move around.


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## DraftyAiresMum (Jun 1, 2011)

Oooo! My knee cap has done the shifting thing since I was a kid. In fact, when I was about 13, the doctor who was giving me my sports' physical told my mom that my left knee cap was 1/4" off track. The tendon behind my knee (don't know what it's called) has "knotted" twice since I was in fourth grade: once when I went to stand up to say the pledge of allegiance (hello, random!) and the second time when I was kneeling down waiting for a soccer drill to start.

Anyway, stairs don't usually bother me anymore. YAY! Only if I've been walking A LOT and then try to run up them. THAT hurts!

Gonna start the squats in the next couple of days. Gonna be BUSY with work, Aires, dog sitting for my friend (for over two weeks!), a singing performance...eep!


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