Transcription
If standing exercises are tough right now, you can still build strong and pain resistant knees from the comfort of a chair. As a physical therapist and osteoarthritis specialist, in today's video, I'm going to show you my five favorite exercises you can do from a seated position to strengthen the legs and be nice to the knees. These are gentle, joint friendly, and can help you walk, climb stairs, and more with confidence. Let's get started.
Each exercise is going to focus on a different group of muscles. So, it's important to watch all five exercises for a well-rounded routine. And as always, before we get started, make sure you listen to your body. Don't force anything your body is not ready for today and modify as needed. Each exercise, I'll provide ways to make it more challenging and ways to make it a bit easier so it can fit whatever fitness level you're at currently.
Exercise number one is a seated leg kick. Bring yourself to the edge of the chair. The firmer the chair you will use for these exercises, the better it will be. Roll your shoulders back a few times just to be aware of your posture. Kick one heel out, trying to straighten the knee as best you can. Bring it down and repeat. With this exercise, you're working the thighs. The primary goal of the thighs is to straighten the knee. If you do want to make this easier, keep your heel on the floor as you slide that leg out. You're still focusing on straightening the knee, so you're still getting that thigh contraction, but you are not lifting against gravity, so they're not necessarily having to work as hard. If you want to make this more challenging, add the kick with a hold for a count of three. 1, 2, 3. Rest and repeat on the other side. One, two, three. By increasing that time, you're just asking those thigh muscles to work that much harder. So, it can increase the intensity. We're looking for anywhere from 10 to 20 repetitions, repeating for two to three sets.
This next exercise is an isometric press down. The beauty of this exercise is it works a lot of muscles at once. Your thighs, the backs of your thighs, your hamstrings, your calf muscles down in the lower leg, and even the glutes. Find yourself at the edge of the chair, up nice and tall, knees bent to about 90°. Think about pressing your heels into the floor. Notice I kind of lift up, but there's not a ton of extra movement here. But you should be able to feel the contraction of your thighs, maybe even the backs of the thighs, the calves, and the glutes. Those muscles will tighten. And then release. Press down into the floor. Hold. One, two, three. Rest. And repeat. Press down into the floor. Hold. One, two, three. To make this easier, don't press as hard. So, you're just getting a nice light press here. Nice light activation through all of those muscles we just discussed. If you do want to make this more challenging, think about actually trying to lift your bottom off the chair. Not only are you pressing down, but you're increasing how hard you're pressing just to lift your hips up slightly. For any of these variations, we're aiming for 10 to 12 repetitions for two to three sets.
This next exercise is a seated side step. This can help to work important glute muscles that play a vital role in keeping your knees healthy. Find yourself at the edge of the chair up nice and tall. Knees bent to about 90°. Take one leg out to the side, but when you do so, think about moving the knee and the ankle at the same time. Stepping out, coming back to neutral, stepping out, and coming back to neutral. One common thing I see with this is leading with the ankle and not moving them at the same time. This is not necessarily getting at what we want. So, knee and ankle move at the same time. If you want to make this easier, lessen the range of motion. Only open up as far as feels comfortable. If you're also dealing with hip arthritis, this may be a range of motion you're pretty limited in. So, it's something just to gradually work into. Adding a resistance band can be a great way to make this more challenging. You can use these latex plastic ones or you can use these cotton sturdier bands. A lot of people tend to have a hard time with these bands rolling up, so these can also be a good option. Truly comes down to personal preference. Although I do find these cotton ones can be pretty taut. I'll show you with this plastic one. Put it around the tops of your knees. Then move your knees about hip distance apart. Keeping this left leg stationary, take the right leg out to the side. And then take the left leg out to the side. The more resistance you have on your band, the harder this will be. But do keep in mind that you're maintaining form. Sometimes if the band is too taut, you'll find yourself reaching with that ankle. This one can be a great one to do in front of a mirror as well, so you can make sure that you're keeping the right form. Aim for 10 to 20 alternating repetitions for two to three sets.
Exercise number four is one of my favorites to strengthen the inner thigh and groin area, an area that's commonly weakened and thus can become tight. Your body needs stability from somewhere, strength or tightness. So, if you do have some weakness here, odds are those muscles are pretty tight. So, this exercise can also help relieve that. Your inner thighs are very important for knee health because it changes the way that you move. So, being able to relax and strengthen those muscles can help you move better as well. For this exercise, find yourself at the edge of your chair, knees bent to about 90°, up nice and tall. Grab a firm pillow and place it in between your knees. Ideally, your knees will be hip-width apart. If the pillow is too large or too flimsy, your knees might not be in the most optimal position. Fold the pillow if you need to, or search for something you can use. What I'm doing here is simply squeezing into the pillow. Holding for a count of three. One, two, three. Relax. And repeat. Squeeze into the pillow. One, 2, 3. And rest. With this exercise, you should feel those inner thigh muscles contract and tighten as you squeeze into the pillow. And rest. To make this exercise easier, don't squeeze as hard. So, just limit how hard you're squeezing into the pillow and that can lessen the contraction of those inner thighs. On the contrary, if you want to make this harder, increase the time you're holding. You can hold for five or 10 seconds. That way, again, you're asking those muscles to work for a longer period of time, which then makes them work harder. Whatever variation you choose, aim for five to eight repetitions for two to three sets.
Now, this last exercise works the calf muscles and the shin muscles. Both incredibly important for supporting the knee, especially when walking and stair climbing. Find yourself at the edge of the chair, up nice and tall, knees bent to 90°. Lift your heels by pressing your toes into the floor, feeling those calf muscles contract. Bring them down and then lift your toes. Now you'll feel the front of your lower leg, those shin muscles contract. And repeat. Heel lift, toe lift. To make this exercise easier, don't lift up as high. So, only go to what feels good. That is going to lessen the muscle contraction in both directions. It's okay if you find that maybe your heels you can lift higher and your toes you can't lift as high. It's something to continue to work on and practice. To make this exercise harder, you can add a weight to the tops of your legs. This can be a dumbbell. This can be a weight plate. Whatever you feel most comfortable with. Rest it on top of the knees or even on the thighs. And now lift the heels and lift the toes. This is just increasing the amount of resistance that now those muscles are working against. You can even take this a step further and try to hold for a few seconds, maybe a count of three in each direction, just increasing the intensity that much more. Any variation you choose, aim for 10 to 20 repetitions, doing together or one at a time for two to three sets.
Here's a quick recap of the exercises we just discussed. Aim to complete at least one or two times per week. You can choose all five exercises or just start with a couple, whatever feels best for your body. If you're looking for more exercises, not just for the knees, but for the rest of your body, to feel strong and mobile, I have a totally free 3-day strength and mobility boost. You'll gain access to three follow-along workouts with me with some of the best exercises for your joints. This is perfect no matter your fitness level, no matter if you have arthritis or not. This boost is meant to get you started on the right path to feeling good. Click the link down below to join. Thank you so much for watching and I can't wait to see you in my next.