Dodgy knees

[Bernard]

Hi everyone, it is Anna here again, but I have a question for the educated crowd, please ? I am wondering about those of us that have dodgy knees. My dodgy knee is my right knee, due to an old step injury about 10 years ago. The way it is dodgy is that it aches when it is tired, and the cold weather can affect it too. If I do too much cardio, it can also play up, but I have also noticed that my knee is worse when I have had a month lapse from working out, and then I get back into exercise, and it hurts like hell. So, my question is, can regular exercise really strengthen and improve a dodgy knee ?

many thanks

Anna

 

[ColleenM]

I find exercise helps strengthen my knee AS LONG AS I don't over do it. I have an old soccer injury from 1984; an overuse injury and I've found that if I'm consistent with exercise and listen to my knee, cross train and don't over do it, then I'm much better off then when I take a month off and try ot get back into the swing of things. I have chronic neck pain from 5 car accidents and it's the same way. I feel much better and have less pain if I'm consistent with my workouts.

Colleen

 

[Maribeth]

Hey, Anna,
The stronger the surrounding musculature, the less stress on the joint surfaces. When you overdo, what happens is that you place more stress on the joints than the muscles can effectively handle, meaning that the articular surfaces get irritated.

It's important that the muscles be well balanced, in other words, the strength in opposing muscle groups should be close to the same. Imbalances can actually create problems.

Strong muscles can't correct damage already done to joint surfaces, ligaments and/or the meniscus, but the strength can help prevent further damage.

Keep it up!
Maribeth

 

[Bernard]

Thanks Maribeth !