Flip Turns = Knee Pain?

Hi Hoodoo7! Everyone has given great advice re: making your turns hurt your knees as little as possible. Most likely, once you make sure you're not twisting and bending past 90 degrees, your pain will go away. In your original post, though, you also asked for some knee strengthening exercises. I am in a similar boat to Solar wrt to crappy knees that hurt from pushoffs, *** kick, and other stuff in the pool. Here's some of the exercises I do for general knee health. In a perfect world, I'd do these daily, but... Strengthening Exercises Side walk: Put a loop of theraband/tubing around your ankles. The loop should be sized such that when your feet are shoulder width apart, there is some tension. Side step back and forth across the room. You can do this both in the athletic pose (knees bent to maybe 30 deg-ish) and with straight legs. Keep your upper body still... don't sway back and forth to build momentum. If you're doing it right, by the time you finish you will feel like someone is sticking a red-hot poker into the sides of your butt. Clams: See link. Much better than me trying to explain it. www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/.../piriformistrength.php Ball against the wall squat: Put a yoga ball behind your back against a wall, bend down to a 90 deg bend at the knees and hold. This is a good quad builder if using a typical gym quad machine puts too much stress on your knees. Wall push: Sit on a bench or sideways chair against the wall. Ideally, your knees are at 90 deg and your back is touching the wall. Feet are flat on the floor. Using one leg at a time, push yourself backwards into the wall (like you're trying to pushing yourself through the wall). Plus, pretty much any core exercise (like plank, etc.... see Fortress' blog, hahaha) is good for the knees. Strong core = strong foundation for the knees. Stretching: Especially if you sit down for large portions of the day, your ham/quad flexibility (and other muscles around the knee) can get out of whack. Here's some of the main ones to hit: Calves On a slant-board if you have access to one; leaning against the wall with one leg behind you; or in the pool against the wall with your heels on the bottom, toes up on the wall, and pulling in towards the gutter - straight leg hits calve, bent knee moves the stretch more towards your achilles). sportsmedicine.about.com/.../Calf-Stretch.htm Hamstrings Stretch your hamstrings one at a time, bending down, lying on your back pulling them towards you with a rope, sitting on a bench/table with one leg down - whatever works best for you. sportsmedicine.about.com/.../Hamstringstretch.htm Quads Stretch your quads in the usual way standing and grabbing your toe, making sure that from your shoulder to knee is a straight line, sportsmedicine.about.com/.../Quad-Stretch.htm. If this method hurts (it does me), try lying on your stomach on a table/bench (I use a PT table at the gym, our coffee table at home), with the non-stretching leg down off the table and reaching around for the other leg. By locking the one leg down you can get a decent stretch without having to bend at the knee so much. Piriformis muscles. These always feel oh so good. sportsmedicine.about.com/.../Piriformis_str.htm You can get a good stretch in the pool by doing the lying stretch described there but with the 'lifted' foot up against the wall and the other foot on the opposite knee. Pull in using the gutter and kind of push your butt towards the pool bottom. I have no background in PT, medicine or anatomy so hopefully these descriptions make some sense. :) Good luck!

Hi Hoodoo7! Everyone has given great advice re: making your turns hurt your knees as little as possible. Most likely, once you make sure you're not twisting and bending past 90 degrees, your pain will go away. In your original post, though, you also asked for some knee strengthening exercises. I am in a similar boat to Solar wrt to crappy knees that hurt from pushoffs, *** kick, and other stuff in the pool. Here's some of the exercises I do for general knee health. In a perfect world, I'd do these daily, but... Strengthening Exercises Side walk: Put a loop of theraband/tubing around your ankles. The loop should be sized such that when your feet are shoulder width apart, there is some tension. Side step back and forth across the room. You can do this both in the athletic pose (knees bent to maybe 30 deg-ish) and with straight legs. Keep your upper body still... don't sway back and forth to build momentum. If you're doing it right, by the time you finish you will feel like someone is sticking a red-hot poker into the sides of your butt. Clams: See link. Much better than me trying to explain it. www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/.../piriformistrength.php Ball against the wall squat: Put a yoga ball behind your back against a wall, bend down to a 90 deg bend at the knees and hold. This is a good quad builder if using a typical gym quad machine puts too much stress on your knees. Wall push: Sit on a bench or sideways chair against the wall. Ideally, your knees are at 90 deg and your back is touching the wall. Feet are flat on the floor. Using one leg at a time, push yourself backwards into the wall (like you're trying to pushing yourself through the wall). Plus, pretty much any core exercise (like plank, etc.... see Fortress' blog, hahaha) is good for the knees. Strong core = strong foundation for the knees. Stretching: Especially if you sit down for large portions of the day, your ham/quad flexibility (and other muscles around the knee) can get out of whack. Here's some of the main ones to hit: Calves On a slant-board if you have access to one; leaning against the wall with one leg behind you; or in the pool against the wall with your heels on the bottom, toes up on the wall, and pulling in towards the gutter - straight leg hits calve, bent knee moves the stretch more towards your achilles). sportsmedicine.about.com/.../Calf-Stretch.htm Hamstrings Stretch your hamstrings one at a time, bending down, lying on your back pulling them towards you with a rope, sitting on a bench/table with one leg down - whatever works best for you. sportsmedicine.about.com/.../Hamstringstretch.htm Quads Stretch your quads in the usual way standing and grabbing your toe, making sure that from your shoulder to knee is a straight line, sportsmedicine.about.com/.../Quad-Stretch.htm. If this method hurts (it does me), try lying on your stomach on a table/bench (I use a PT table at the gym, our coffee table at home), with the non-stretching leg down off the table and reaching around for the other leg. By locking the one leg down you can get a decent stretch without having to bend at the knee so much. Piriformis muscles. These always feel oh so good. sportsmedicine.about.com/.../Piriformis_str.htm You can get a good stretch in the pool by doing the lying stretch described there but with the 'lifted' foot up against the wall and the other foot on the opposite knee. Pull in using the gutter and kind of push your butt towards the pool bottom. I have no background in PT, medicine or anatomy so hopefully these descriptions make some sense. :) Good luck!