How to Strengthen the Knee for Knee Arthritis

Today I’m going to show you how to strengthen the knee for knee arthritis. If you have knee arthritis, the cartilage in your knee is wearing away, causing the joint to be stiff. We would like the knee to be surrounded by as much muscle as possible to support the knee joint. Theses exercises are also excellent for people who have meniscus tears or meniscus injuries. The two muscle groups that are the most important are the quadriceps muscles and the hamstring muscles.

To strengthen the quadriceps muscles in a way that does not wear away more cartilage, I like to start with non-weight bearing exercises (exercises that does not involve standing). The first quad exercise is the long arc quads. We can start in the seated position. Bring the knee into full extension to strengthen the quads. To make this exercise more challenging, we can add resistance through either ankle weight or resistance band. The second quad exercise is the straight leg raise. We can start in the supine position (lying down on your back, facing up). Keep the knee straight and lift the leg up and down. Again you can increase the difficulty by using an ankle weight. Lastly, I like to throw in a transition exercise like sit to stand. This is an exercise that transitions from sitting to standing. This is a transfer exercise that is very functional. It trains your legs to be more efficient in standing up. The first hamstring exercise is alternating knee flexion in the standing position, or just hamstring curls in standing. Start in the standing position, alternating bending the knees one at a time. Hold onto a chair or table for balance. You can increase the difficulty by adding resistance, with either ankle weight or resistance band. You can also do hamstring curls in the prone position (lying down on your stomach, facing down). You can also use the ankle weight in this position. The second hamstring exercise I like is the supine bridge. This is also a very function exercise. It helps you to become more efficient in bed mobility (moving around on your bed). This exercise is also called the hip thrust. You can make this exercise more challenging by keeping one leg up in the air and using the other leg to bridge (lift your hips up). All footages used in this video are either original or obtained via Storyblocks. Disclaimer: Please consult your local doctor or physical therapist before attempting these exercises. These exercises are specific to my needs and are what work for me. You are responsible for any injury that might occur while attempting these exercises. Tips for knee arthritis flare ups: Consult with a local physical therapist. Your physical therapist could teach you which exercise is appropriate for you and customize a program for you. Please know that a good therapy program doesn’t just include strengthening. it also includes stretching, manual therapy, and pain control. If your knee is flared up, ice the knee to decrease inflammation. Make sure there is a layer of clothing between the ice pack and your skin so you don’t get frost bite. After doing knee exercises, if there is any pain, ice the knee again. Make sure there is a layer of clothing between the ice pack and your skin so you don’t get frost bite. It is a good idea to massage and stretch the knee before you stretch it. Massaging the muscles around the knee helps to relax the muscles and warm up the muscles and the joint by increasing blood flow to them.

How to Stretch the Knee for Knee Arthritis

Today I will show you how to stretch your knee for knee arthritis. If you have knee arthritis, you would experience knee stiffness. To decrease knee stiffness, the most effective way is stretching. I will show you three stretching techniques for both quadriceps and hamstrings. Why you should stretch the hamstrings: tight hamstrings could potentially contribute to difficulty straightening the knee. Why you should stretch quadriceps: tight quads could potentially contribute to difficulty bending the knee.

First stretching technique is the dynamic stretch. This stretch is best used for warming up the muscles and joints. It is a quick stretch and release. The second stretch is the static stretch. This stretch is more effective in increasing muscle and joint flexibility than the dynamic stretch. The third stretch is the hold relax stretch. It is also known as PNF stretch. This stretch is the most effective in increasing knee range of motion and flexibility. It is also the most complicated to learn and perform. Contract Relax Stretch Instruction for Hamstrings: Starting position: Long sitting on the floor or on a chair/bench. First, stretch the knee straight as far as you can with minimal discomfort. Make sure you feel a strong stretch and at least some discomfort or pain (minimal pain). Hold that position. Don't release the tension in the stretch and don't go any farther into pain. Hold phase: push the heel down into the chair or the floor for 3-4 second count. Relax the pressure under the heel for a second without the pressure under the knee or changing the knee position. Push the heel down again for another 3-4 second count. Relax the pressure under the heel for a second. Push the heel down again for 3-4 count. Relax the pressure under the heel for a second. Push the heel down again for 3-4 second count. Relax the heel pressure. Relax Phase: Take a deep breath. Inhale. Exhale. As you exhale, push the knee a little bit more into the hamstring stretch. Repeat the Hold Phase and Relax phase for another 3 times. Contract Relax Stretch Instruction for Quadriceps: Starting Position: prone with stretching strap around ankle, the stretch is pulled over the shoulder. First, stretch and bend the knee as far as you can with minimal discomfort. Make sure you feel a strong stretch and at least some discomfort or pain (minimal pain). Hold that position. Don't release the tension in the stretch and don't go any farther into pain. Hold phase: push the ankle away from your body, into the stretching strap, for 3-4 second count. Relax the pressure against the strap for a second without releasing the tension in the stretching strap or changing the knee position. Push the ankle into the strap again for another 3-4 second count. Relax the pressure at the ankle for a second. Push the ankle into the strap again for 3-4 count. Relax the pressure at the ankle for a second. Push the ankle into the strap again for 3-4 second count. Relax the ankle. Repeat the Hold Phase and Relax phase for another 3 times. All footages used in this video are either original or obtained via Storyblocks. Disclaimer: Please consult your local doctor or physical therapist before attempting these exercises. These exercises are specific to my needs and are what work for me. You are responsible for any injury that might occur while attempting these exercises. Tips for knee arthritis flare ups: Consult with a local physical therapist. Your physical therapist could teach you which exercise is appropriate for you and customize a program for you. Please know that a good therapy program doesn’t just include strengthening. it also includes stretching, manual therapy, and pain control. If your knee is flared up, ice the knee to decrease inflammation. Make sure there is a layer of clothing between the ice pack and your skin so you don’t get frost bite. After doing knee exercises, if there is any pain, ice the knee again. Make sure there is a layer of clothing between the ice pack and your skin so you don’t get frost bite. It is a good idea to massage the knee before you stretch it. Massaging the muscles around the knee helps to relax the muscles and warm up the muscles and the joint by increasing blood flow to them.

How to Stretch for Achilles Tendinitis

If you have Achilles Tendonitis, you may experience unexpected sharp pain in your ankle and cramping at the ankle especially back of the ankle. You might have tried icing your ankle, soaking your ankle, drinking more electrolytes, and yet the cramping and the pain keep coming back. Even though Achilles Tendonitis is considered an overuse injury, it could actually be a result of the weakening of the Achilles tendon, rather than something like an ankle sprain. As the Achilles tendon weakens, it fatigues at a much faster rate. This causes irritation, inflammation, pain, and cramping of the ankle.

Short term treatment of the Achilles Tendonitis includes: ice, rest, massage, and stretching of the Achilles tendon. Ice: ice the inside, outside, front and back of the ankle for a few seconds to a few minutes depending on your cold tolerance. Stop icing if the pain increases. The ankle cannot tolerate ice for very long since it is a sensitive part of the body. If you have loss of sensation (nerve damage) in your feet, avoid icing the ankle for more than 30 seconds just to be safe. Massage: use your thumb to gently rub the inside of the ankle. There isn’t much muscle mass here so we’re mostly working on skin and fascia. Do this for a couple of seconds, twice a day. Stretching: I prefer to stretch the Achilles tendon in long sit. If you can’t reach your foot with your hands due to leg tightness, you could use a towel or a strap to pull the foot toward you. Stretch for 15-30 seconds depending on your tolerance. If your ankle is inflamed, it could be painful to stretch. If that is the case, it is a good idea to ice the ankle before you stretch it. Long term treatment of Achilles tendonitis: Achilles tendon strengthening Strengthening: the most basic level of Achilles tendon strengthening is eccentric strengthening of the Achilles tendon while holding onto support, with both feet on a step. Intermediate level of Achilles strengthening: Double Heel Raises in a step Advanced level of Achilles strengthening: Single leg heel raises on a step. For each level of the strengthening process, stop the exercise and rest once pain increases. It takes time for muscles to get stronger. It could take 1-2 weeks for you to progress from beginner level to intermediate level. The important thing is consistency. Practice daily. Once you are able to do 10 repetitions of the advanced level without increased pains you should have much less frequent (or infrequent) flare ups, pain, and cramping. All footages used in this video are either original or obtained via Storyblocks. Disclaimer: Please consult your local doctor or physical therapist before attempting these exercises. These exercises are specific to my needs and are what work for me. You are responsible for any injury that might occur while attempting these exercises. Tips for Achilles Tendonitis: Consult with a local physical therapist. Your physical therapist could teach you which exercise is appropriate for you and customize a program for you. Please know that a good therapy program doesn’t just include strengthening. it also includes stretching, manual therapy, and pain control. If your ankle is flared up, ice the ankle to decrease inflammation. Make sure there is a layer of clothing between the ice pack and your skin so you don’t get frost bite. After doing ankle exercises, if there is any pain, ice the ankle again. Make sure there is a layer of clothing between the ice pack and your skin so you don’t get frost bite. Music: Cello Suite - Bach [COPYRIGHT FREE] by Lud and Schlatts Musical Emporium Wind by Lilypichu Walking with you by Lilypichu (comfi beats)

How to Strengthen the Hip for Hip Arthritis

If you have hip arthritis, the strength of the hip muscles are often weakened due to pain or stiffness of the hip joint. Since muscles play a huge part of supporting your joints, muscle weakening leads to decreasing support of the joints. This is not good at all because with less support, the remaining cartilage of the joint would then undergo even more pressure. Hip joints are considered lower extremity joints, which means that in the standing position, these joints have to hold up most of your body weight. If the hip muscles weaken, the hip joints degeneration process will increase even more. This is why it is very important to strengthen the hip muscles. It is especially important if you have hip arthritis. There are five general directions of hip movement: flexion, extension, abduction, interpretation, and external rotation. Hip adduction is also a hip movement but it doesn’t play as large of a part functionally. When strengthening the hip, we generally work on the five movements. I only give my patients with hip instability hip adduction exercise (ball squeezes) as a warm up and only if they can’t do much outside of sitting position. Once my patients could do exercises in supine or standing position, I stop giving them hip adductor exercises. We could categorize hip muscle groups according to their functions: hip flexors, hip extensors, hip abductors, hip external rotators and hip internal rotators. Here are the most exercises I will go over today: bent over hip extension, supine bridge, hip abduction in sitting, hip abduction in standing, marching in standing with high knees, wall mountain climber, clamshells, lower extremity PNF D2 flexion, and hip controlled articulate rotations (hip CARS).

All footages used in this video are either original or obtained via Storyblocks. Disclaimer: Please consult your local doctor or physical therapist before attempting these exercises. These exercises are specific to my needs and are what work for me. You are responsible for any injury that might occur while attempting these exercises. Please note that if you have acute hip fracture or any hip surgeries, you should consult with an orthopedic surgeon or sports medicine doctor regarding when it is okay to strengthen your hip muscles. Tips for hip arthritis: Consult with a local physical therapist. Your physical therapist could teach you which exercise is appropriate for you and customize a program for you. Please know that a good therapy program doesn’t just include strengthening. it also includes stretching, manual therapy, and pain control. While my exercises are great for hip arthritis, I would not say that these all you would need. If your hip is flared up, ice the hip to decrease inflammation. Make sure there is a layer of clothing between the ice pack and your skin so you don’t get frost bite. If your hip is not flared up, it is good idea to warm up the hip before doing hip exercises. You could use a heating pad and put it around the hip for 15-20 minutes. Make sure there is a layer of clothing between the heating pad and your skin so you don’t get burned. After doing hip exercises, if there is any pain, ice the hip for 15-20 minutes. Make sure there is a layer of clothing between the ice pack and your skin so you don’t get frost bite. Music: Cello Suite - Bach [COPYRIGHT FREE] by Lud and Schlatts Musical Emporium Wind by Lilypichu Walking with you by Lilypichu (comfi beats) Ludwig’s Lullaby by Lud and Schlatts Musical Emporium Lilypad by Lilypichu (comfi beats) Sunshine & Butterflies by Lilypichu (comfi beats)

500 YouTube Shorts Subscriber and 400 Instagram Follower Milestone

We hit 400 IG followers this past week, and yesterday we hit 500 subscribers on the old YT channel (which is now the shorts channel). At this point I have realized that followers and subscribers are just numbers. I could see how many people actually watched my videos that I worked hard to make. I'm still a long way from being able to provide good value to my followers. About 50-100 of my IG followers actually watch my videos. As for the shorts channel subscribers, about 50-100 subscribers actually watch my shorts videos. This is why I decided to start a new YT channel for my long form videos. I don't want to force my shorts viewers to watch my long videos, and I don't want my long video viewers to have to watch my shorts. Speaking of the new YT channel. We hit 10 subscribers within two weeks. Not sure when we'll hit 100 subscribers on this new channel, but I'll be sure to keep trying, and bettering my content.

How to Stretch for Hip Pain

In this video I will go over how to stretch the hip for different types of hip pain. For glute pain or posterior hip pain: single knee to chest stretch and glute stretch For Piriformis syndrome: Piriformis stretch For hip flexor tightness: hip flexor stretch and butterfly stretch For external rotator tightness: hip internal rotation stretch

Disclaimer: Please consult your local doctor or physical therapist before attempting these exercises. These exercises are specific to my needs and are what work for me. You are responsible for any injury that might occur while attempting these exercises. Please also note that if you have hip flexor strain, hip labral tear, hip dislocation, hip fracture that hasn’t healed, or any instability of the hip, these stretches may worsen your condition. This is also the reason you should first consult with your local physical therapist before attempting these exercises. All footages used are original. Music: Cello Suite - Bach [COPYRIGHT FREE] by Lud and Schlatts Musical Emporium The Flower Duet - Leo Delibes [COPYRIGHT FREE] by Lud and Schlatts Musical Emporium Wind by Lilypichu Electronic and Techno Type Beat/ Workout Music - (“Neural Network”) [DMCA FREE Twitch streamsafe] by NoiseNation