Recovering from a knee injury is never a pleasant thing to do. Waiting times are often long and tedious, and the reduction in overhead can mean that after a couple of months we have lost a lot of what we had earned.
Having said all the above, the truth is that an injury of this type is not a reason to lie in bed all day. It is necessary to do recovery exercises that serve both to gain strength little by little, and to keep us moderately active to return to training.
Learn about 5 basic knee recovery exercises , which will not magically heal you, but which with perseverance and under the supervision of a doctor will give us something useful to do without taking too many risks.
5 exercises to recover from a knee injury
1. Iliotibial band stretch, one leg
- Begin by lying on the floor with your back, holding a resistance band at the ends with both hands, and in the middle with your right foot, which should be extended in front of you.
- Keeping your back and head on the ground, raise your right leg until it is perpendicular to the ground, as straight as possible. Hold the position for 5-10 seconds.
- If your condition allows it, you can also slowly stretch your leg inward as you reach the top. In that case, bring your leg to your left side as much as you can, and take four slow breaths, before lowering your leg.
- Repeat the entire process 4 times with each leg.
2. Contractions of the vastus medial oblique, standing
- Start standing with your feet hip-width apart, holding a ball between your knees.
- Slowly bend your knees like you want to squat, but get halfway there, so you don’t hurt yourself. As you do so, remember to keep light pressure on the ball.
- Hold the position for 3-5 seconds.
- Go back and do 10 reps.
Save as long as you need between reps, depending on the severity of your injury.
3. Hamstring curl with stability ball
- Lie on your back on the floor, with your glutes near a stability ball. Your arms should be resting firmly on the ground, close to your sides.
- Keeping the lower part of the spine on the ground, put your feet on the ball, keeping between them a separation equal to the width of your knees.
- In a very delicate way, separate your buttocks from the floor, until you are in a position similar to that of the bridge in yoga. Go up as much as you can, without hurting yourself.
- Keeping your glutes in the air, do leg curls, stretching and tucking your legs 6 times to roll the ball back and forth.
- Return to the starting position on the ground. So far a series of 6 repetitions goes.
Repeat the exercise until you complete 3 sets of 6 repetitions.
4. Gluteal bridge with pelvic contraction
- Start lying on your back on the floor, with your knees bent, so that seen from the side you form an inverted V not very open with your legs and buttocks. The back and arms remain firmly supported on the floor.
- Contract your pelvis slightly, lifting your buttocks slightly.
- Maintaining the pelvic position, lift yourself completely separating the glutes from the floor, to be in the position of the bridge.
- Hold the position for a couple of seconds. Repeat for 3 sets of 5 slow reps.
5. Activation of the vastus medial oblique with a medicine ball
- Begin by standing in front of a small medicine ball, resting one foot on it, with the knee slightly bent.
- Make light pressure on the ball, without hurting yourself. If the leg that supports your weight on the ground suffers, you can do the exercise sitting down.
- Hold pressure on the ball for 3-5 seconds before switching your leg. Do the exercise 6 times with each leg.
Reference
- Davis, L. 13 Exercises to Help You Recover From an Injury. For Livestrong [Revised December 2017].
