Common Knee Injuries Are "Common" - They Commonly Happen To ExercisersI refer to these Injuries as Common Knee Injuries Because they're knee injuries that can happen to most people who exercise (like you and I) and to those who do active sports. Come to think of it, have you ever injured your knee? You know, when you've a hyper extension of your knee, a sudden forced squat or a hard impact on your knee joints from any angle while exercising or doing sports? Hey, you're not alone. I've injured mine. Let's look at some knee injury cases and see what we can do to prevent them. Oh, before I delve into them, I got to get you understand a bit about your knee. What's in your knee? First, your knee is a joint, located between the area where your bones connect. Next, your knee is made up of bones, cartilage, muscles, ligaments and tendons. So when you've a knee injury, it could be stress or damage to any of these parts. I'm not delving deep into what's bones, cartilage, muscles, ligaments and tendons as you can read them up anytime in books or on the web...... Right, so we'll go straight to what're the common knee injuries and what you can do to prevent them.
A sprain in your knee means you've stretched or torn a ligament. It's caused by over training and repeated strong impact or trauma on your knee joints.
Also not wearing proper shoes and exercise without a proper warm-up and cool-down can bring upon this knee injury. Common Knee injuries - Tendinitis Tendinitis occurs when a tendon gets irritated or inflamed. It's caused by repeated stretching or tearing of the achilles tendon, located at the back of your calf and attached to your heels.
If you've poor muscle tone or you use improper foot form, you're most susceptible to this knee injury. Tendinitis usually starts gradually and in the beginning, the pain is only felt after you exercise. Then the pain becomes chronic. Common Knee injuries - Cartilage Tears The tears can be partial or total and occur when you rapidly twist or rotate your upper leg while your foot stays still. The tears are caused by over training and excessive weight-bearing or impact on your foot, in addition to weak leg muscles. Common Knee injuries - Cartilage Injury This is also known as 'Chondromalacia' and it occurs when the cartilage in your knee joint softens. It's caused by over training, using improper mechanics (like poorly fitting exercise equipment and worn out shoes) or muscle weakness.
All right. We've gone through the types of common knee injuries. Let's now look at the treatments you can administer to them. I go for R.I.C.E. regime --- First, if your knee injuries are mild, resting your knee is one of the first treatments you want to do. Then, apply ice on your injured knee for a couple of days to bring down swelling. Next, do compression by bandaging your knee. Lastly, elevate your leg on pillows or other soft objects. For more serious knee injuries, I recommend you see an orthopedic surgeon, who specializes in taking care of many kinds of knee injuries, especially those involving sports and different types of accidents. He or she will know how to treat the injuries and follow your progress as your knee heals. Depending on the type of knee injury you've, your orthopedic surgeon may recommend rehabilitative physical therapy. This means you'll do specific exercises designed to take your knee joint through its range of motion to prevent stiffness and scarring as your knee heals. You may also need to do regular exercises to strengthen the muscles surrounding your knee.
With cause and treatment taken care of, now we come to the meaty part --- the prevention. Right from the beginning, if you take measures to prevent knee injuries, it's a whole lot less painful and a whole lot less hassle than undergoing treatment. When you exercise, always warm up and cool down and remember to work up to your exercise frequency, duration and intensity slowly. If you suddenly increase the intensity or duration of your workouts, it can lead to your knees in a state of being "over trained". This easily brings on knee injury. Strength-train to strengthen your muscles and stretch to improve your flexibility because strong, flexible muscles help support and protect your joints. The way you move can also help you prevent the knee injuries. If your exercise requires a lot of jumping and squating, make sure you bend your knees when you land, which takes pressure off your knee joints.
You now know how to prevent the types of common knee injuries that I've told you? Always, always remember that prevention is better than cure...... Yeah, prevention. And I've used this excellent guide that's packed with practical tips to prevent knee injuries. The result? I experienced lesser injuries and enjoy pain-free regular exercise! Bookmark this page? Click one of the little buttons below and you're done. Back to top
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