The Worst Exercises for Bad Knees

Painful, sore, and irritated knees are one of the most common ailments affecting older people. There are certain exercises that are best to be avoided and some modifications to make sure you are doing if you have knee problems. Here is a list of some of the best and worst exercises for bad knees and some modifications to make exercising safer. 

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How can exercise harm the knees?

To work out safely with knee pain, it’s important to know which exercises to avoid. A study [¹] shows that high-impact activities can strain the joints, so sticking to lower-impact exercises like walking, biking, and swimming is often better. Many medical professionals advise against exercises that put excessive stress on the knees, such as squats.

Worst Exercises for Bad Knees

1. Squat

Bad Squat Exercise:

Avoid letting your knees pass your toes in the squat position. When the knees are past the toes, greater stress is put on your knees. 

Bad Squat Exercise

Good Squat Exercise [²]:

Begin in an upright standing position with your legs hip-width apart and your toes slightly pointed outward. Place your hands on your hips and engage your core. Bend your knees and hinge through your hips to move into a squat position. Keep your knees behind your toes and shift your hips back. Raise back up to a standing position and repeat the movement.

Good Squat Exercise

2. Lunge

Bad Lunge Exercise:

Similar to the squatting exercise, we do not want your knee to pass your toes as this puts greater stress on the knee joint.

Bad Lunge Exercise

Good Lunge Exercise:

Begin in an upright standing position, maintaining good alignment with your head, shoulders, and hips. Place your hands on your hips and engage your core. Take a big step forward with one foot and lower your back knee down towards the floor, keeping your front knee behind your toes. Raise back up to the starting position and repeat the movement.

Good Lunge Exercise

3. Leg Extension Machine

If you go to a community center or gym, the leg extension machine is designed to strengthen your quadricep muscles. Once you are in a seated position, it has a bar that sits in front of your shins. You then straighten your legs against the weighted bar. Unfortunately, leg extension machines can put significant stress on the knee joints. And as you increase the repetitions, load, or resistance, this stress is increased.

While it can be beneficial to perform squats, lunges or leg press exercises, be sure to use the proper form to minimize stress on the knee joints.

Exercises that are good for your Knees

1. Deadlift

Begin in an upright standing position with your legs hip-width apart, maintaining good alignment with your head, shoulders, hips, and legs. Place your hands on your hips, engaging your core. Slightly bend your knees and pivot through your hips to bend your upper body forward, ideally to be parallel to the floor. Raise back up and repeat the movement.

Deadlift

Start off with 1 set of 10 repetitions. Perform the exercise in a smooth, controlled movement with a good stop at the end position. The intensity is moderate. The purpose of this exercise is to strengthen the core, glutes, hamstrings, and the muscles around the knees.

2. Single Leg Step-up

Single-Leg Step-up

Begin in an upright standing position on the bottom step of your stairs or any other stable elevated surface, maintaining good alignment with your head, shoulders, hips, and legs. Engage your core and step up with one leg, following with your other leg. Step back down, leading with the same leg to return to the starting position. Repeat the movement with the opposite leg.

Start off with 1 set of 5 repetitions on each side. Perform the exercise in a smooth, controlled movement with a good stop at the end position. The intensity is moderate. The purpose of this exercise is to strengthen the glutes, hamstrings, and muscles above and below the knees. 

3. Single Leg Balance

Begin in an upright standing position, maintaining good alignment with your head, shoulders, hips, and legs. Place your hands on your hips. Engage your core and place all of your weight on one leg as you work on balancing your body weight. Hold this position for 10 seconds. Return to the starting position and repeat the movement on the opposite side.

Single-Leg Balance

Start off with 1 set of 2 repetitions on each side, holding for 10 seconds. Perform the exercise in a smooth controlled movement with a good hold at the end position. The intensity is light. The purpose of this exercise is to strenghten the foot, ankle, calf muscles, in addition to the muscles around the knees and hips.

By planning your workouts carefully, you can reap the benefits of exercise without causing harm to your knees. This approach can lead to less pain, increased energy, better sleep, and improved daily function.

We hope you try out these exercises and find some relief for your knee pain. If you are looking for a guide to help fix your knee pain, check out Knee Pain Solved, here!