7 Things That Will Damage Your Knees

Will Harlow, the over-50s specialist physio, explains:

Protect your knees, actively!

Here are the 7 things that it’s critical to be aware of:

1. Twisting with a planted foot: planting your foot and twisting your knee—often while lifting, pulling, or turning with weight through your leg—puts excessive rotational stress on the meniscus, which has very little give and is prone to tearing. Your knee’s a hinge joint only; please treat it as such!
2. Heavy squats with bad form: squats are very beneficial when done well, but poor alignment of your knees, hips, spine, or feet can have the opposite effect, as it can concentrate stress on your knee joint and can cause damage, especially when heavy loads or high volumes are involved. So, squat yes, definitely, but with good form.
3. No rehab after a knee injury: letting pain settle and then returning straight to the same activities without addressing underlying weakness, tightness, or movement faults leads to recurring pain and increases the risk of long-term knee problems. Take care of yourself carefully!
4. Weak glutes: weak gluteus medius and minimus muscles allow your thigh bone to drift inwards during walking or exercise, increasing stress on the inside of your knee (usually without you noticing it at the time), and often as not, causing inflammation of the meniscus.
5. Tight quads and calves: tight muscles at the front and back of your leg compress your knee joint because they both cross it, increasing mechanical stress and accelerating wear if the tightness isn’t addressed. So this is one where stretching is actually important!
6. Avoiding stairs: stopping regular stair use reduces strength in your quads and glutes, leaving your knee joint less supported and more vulnerable to everyday loads, particularly in later life. This really is a “use it or lose it” thing.
7. Tolerating gradual stiffness: accepting increasing stiffness as “just aging” instead of regularly moving your knee through its comfortable full range allows stiffness, pain, and reduced function to build progressively. So it really is important to keep working that full range of motion!

For more on all of this, enjoy:

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Want to learn more?

For a much deeper understanding of treating knee pain, here’s a great book that we reviewed a little while back:

Treat Your Own Knee – by Robin McKenzie ← he’s a physiotherapist and not a doctor, but with 40 years of practice to his name and 33 letters after his name (CNZM OBE FCSP (Hon) FNZSP (Hon) Dip MDT Dip MT), he seems to know his stuff. His work is very well-respected, and almost any English-speaking physiotherapist will have read his books.

Take care!