Knees are funny little things.
You could argue that they’re not very well designed; they’re fairly complicated, plus they have to take a lot of weight despite the lack of support they have compared to, say, your hips.
And so, knees are easily and frequently injured.
So, how can we make our knees less likely to get injured?
By making sure the joints above and below are working in the way they’re designed… That’s your hips and your feet / ankles!
If your hips are tight and the muscles around them are weak, then every time you want to move, your knees will be forced to twist more than they’re meant to.
If your ankles are tight and your feet are unstable, then your knees will be forced to take more impact and stress than they’re meant to.
So…. Move and strengthen your hips in all different directions. That means by lifting your knee up towards your chest, by extending your leg out behind you, by moving your leg outwards and inwards, and by rotating your hips so your knee points outwards and also inwards.
And for your feet, walk barefoot more often to encourage some stability. Bonus points if you can practice standing on one foot too. It’s also a good idea to move your feet and toes around too.
There is definitely an argument for directly strengthening your knees as well, but the first port of call should be to check your strength and mobility in the joints above and below. Unless you have a diagnosed issue specifically with your knee (and maybe even if you do), I’ll bet you’ll get a surprising amount of relief without directly focussing on your knees.
I’ve got a short video you can follow along with in order to put the above ideas into action – please send me a message and I’ll be delighted to send it to you 🙂