These are the four knee-friendly quad stretches that you can do. Enjoy the exercises!
CLICK HERE to watch the YouTube video.
I got Andrea to demonstrate the stretches.
Traditional Quad Stretches
Stand tall and look straight ahead. Keep your hands on something stable and firm for balance, like a chair or a wall, so you can focus on the stretch. Bring your heel toward the seat.
Many people can’t handle this position because it puts too much pressure on their knees.
I will demonstrate some tweaks you can do to eliminate knee pain and benefit from this traditional quad stretch exercise. The first two modifications may require loop tubing. However, feel free to use a skipping rope, towel, or anything handy to keep you in position.
1. Light Quad Stretches
Using the loop tubing or rope, perform a quad stretch. You can decrease the pressure on the knees by bringing the heel further up instead of pulling the heel straight toward the chair.
Light Quad Stretches
Perform one set of 2 reps, alternating back and forth with a good stop at the end position for 20 seconds and light intensity.
2. 90-degree Quad Stretches
Again, using the loop tubing or rope, straighten your legs to form 90 degrees at the hip and knee. Bring your heel back as if you are kicking something with your heel, bringing your knee past the hip. You will feel a good quad and hip flexor stretch without knee pain or stress.
Perform one set of 2 reps alternating back and forth with a good stop at the end for 20 seconds and light intensity.
3. Standing Hip Flexor Stretches
Most people with knee pain can’t handle the leg bend while performing a hip flexor stretch. They may also feel some pressure on their quadriceps and the hip area. So, we’ll lessen the pain by performing a standing hip flexor stretch instead of a kneeling one.
Take a half step forward and a half step back. Keep your front leg flat, and then bend your front knee slightly on the ball of your foot. Keep your abdominal area and glutes tight [²], and bring your hips forward.
Standing Hip Flexor Stretches
Perform one set of 2 reps alternating back and forth with a good stop at the end for 20 seconds and light intensity.
4. Standing Hip Flexor Stretch With Hands Overhead
Bring your arms overhead and lean back slightly to intensify the standing hip flexor stretch position. This elongates your body as you increase your lever and allows you to get a stronger stretch in the quad and the hip flexor areas.
Standing Hip Flexor Stretch With Hands Overhead
Perform one set of 2 reps alternating back and forth with a good stop at the end position for 20 seconds and light intensity.
I highly recommend doing alternating reps for the above exercises. This allows both knees to get the most benefits from this routine. If only one knee hurts, the other side goes through the stretches as a preventative measure. This gives that painful side a bit of a break on the exercises, eliminating any unnecessary or excess stress in your knee [¹] .
Take care!
Rick Kaselj, MS
If you want to eliminate your knee discomfort, check out the Knee Pain Solved program here.
References:
- Rizvi, M. R., Sharma, A., Hasan, S., Ahmad, F., Asad, M. R., Iqbal, A., & Alghadir, A. H. (2023). Exploring the impact of integrated polyvagal exercises and knee reinforcement in females with grade II knee osteoarthritis: a randomized controlled trial. Scientific Reports, 13(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-45908-4
- Duarte‐Rojo, A., Sosa‐Lozano, L. A., Saúl, Á., Herrera‐Cáceres, J. O., Hernández‐Cárdenas, C., Vázquez‐Lamadrid, J., & Robles‐Díaz, G. (2010). Methods for measuring abdominal obesity in the prediction of severe acute pancreatitis, and their correlation with abdominal fat areas assessed by computed tomography. Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics, 32(2), 244–253. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2036.2010.04321.x