Does anyone know of any good exercises that work well for someone with chronic knee pain? Everything seems to aggravate my knee and I don't know how to swim. I did do a water aerobics class but none in my area really work with my schedule. Any suggestions, advice and even links to videos would be helpful. Thank you in advance for your time and thoughts.
I can sympathize; I've had knee surgery on my left knee. First of all, it depends on why your knee hurts. Is it arthritis or an injury?
As far as cardio exercises (to get your heart rate up), swimming is excellent. You may want to stick to the crawl rather than the breastroke, because the frog kick can be hard on the knees. Swimming takes all the pressure of your weight off of your knees. Walk as much as you are able. You may also want to try doing biking or a stationary bike once or twice a week if your knee can tolerate it.
As far as strength exercises, it again depends on why your knee hurts. I know with an ACL tear, I was told to absolutely never do the type of exercise where you are sitting and where there is weight on your ankles and you then straighten your legs in front of you. You want to strengthen your quadriceps, which is the big muscle on the front of your thigh that helps support your knee. To start, you can just sit on the floor with your legs straight in front of you, and lift your leg up a few inches off the ground and hold it. Even if only one knee bothers you, be sure to do any exercise on both sides.
Wall sits, where you put your back against a wall and assume a sitting position, are good for the quads, but DO NOT bend your knees more than 9- degrees!
Most more-advanced exercises for the quad have to be done with caution if you have knee issues. Any exercises that involve squatting must be done very carefully, *and you should NEVER go beyond bending your knee 90 degrees*, i.e. if you are standing up and then doing a squat, your butt should never be lower than your knees!
For any type of exercise, start slowly and gradually build as your strength and endurance increase. Try not to do anything that twists or torques your knees. Good luck!
tdp