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Strength Training for the Knee

This handout is to help you rebuild the strength of the muscles surrounding the knee after injury.  It is intended as a guideline to help you organize a structured approach to strengthening the knee.
 
Precautions When Exercising
• Avoid pain at the patellar tendon
• Avoid pain and/or crepitus (grinding) at the patella (kneecap)
• Build up resistance and repetitions gradually
• Perform exercises slowly, avoiding quick direction change and impact loading
• Exercise frequency should be 2 to 3 times a week for strength building
• Be consistent and regular with the exercise schedule
 
Before Staring Your Workout
• Warm-up prior to exercising by stationary cycling, elliptical machine or treadmill walking uphill
• You are “warmed – up” when you have started sweating
• Gently stretch all muscle groups next (see attachment for recommended stretches)
• Do exercises involving multiple muscle groups first and individual muscle groups last
• Do aerobic workouts after strength workouts
• Cool-down by stretching after exercise
 
Progressive Resistance Exercise (PRE) Principle
• To build muscle strength and size, the amount of resistance used must be gradually increased
• The exercises should be specific to the target muscles
• The amount of resistance should be measurable and gradually increased over a longer period of time
• To avoid excess overload and injury, the weight or resistance must be gradually increased in increments of 5 to 10 %
• Resistance can be increased gradually every 10 to 14 days when following a regular and consistent program
• Adequate rest and muscle recovery between workout is necessary to maximize the benefit of the exercise
• If the PRE principle is followed too strictly, the weights potentially will go higher and higher
• At a certain point, the joints and muscles will become overloaded and injury will occur
• This eventuality can be avoided by refraining from using excessive weight during strength training

 

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