We recently had a client contact our clinic last week and he asked us this…
“Why do I have knee pain when I squat?”
She told us she was attending her local gym frequently (4-5 days a week) for the past year, to help her lose weight. She would perform exercises like running, leg extensions, lunges, and using the stair climber. Then about 7 months ago she began feeling knee pain when she squats. She thought nothing of it at first, and that it was just something that would go away on its own.
Continuing to perform the same exercises, her knee pain got worse when she squats and it began to affect her quality of life. She decided to go to her orthopedic doctor, who prescribed her painkillers, performed cortisone injections, and told her to rest.
A month had past and she was still having knee pain with back squats. She decided to do her own research and found some exercises to help knee pain with squats on YouTube. Unfortunately, the exercises caused her to have severe knee pain to the point that squatting to the toilet or a chair, sitting in a chair with bent knees, going up and downstairs, and even sleeping became a nightmare.
Has something similar happened to you? Have you been wondering “why do I have knee pain when I squat”?
To rest or not to rest?
Yes, the word ‘rest’ can be confusing...
What does “take some rest’ even mean?
Does rest mean you have to sit on the couch all day when you got things to do?
Does it mean no exercising until your knee feels better? And then when it does, how much exercising is too much?
Does it mean you have to avoid exercise altogether?
Being told to rest, and take painkillers is one of the most common things we hear when people are given ‘knee pain’ advice. But the thing is, this cocktail mix of rest and taking tablets will do absolutely nothing to help you get back to being active…
Simply resting will not get to the root cause of what brought on your knee pain in the first place. Which will limit your ability to get back to living an active life without it.
In fact, as long as you don’t have a knee injury that’s caused severe damage, instead of ‘rest’, you should actually move!
Now, I know you might be worried to use your knees and want to take some time off to let your knees heal, but there are several safe, low-impact activities, that can actually help get you on the road to recovery.
You see, when we don’t move our joints they become stiff and immobile, which can cause inflammation – which actually makes joints like our knees even MORE painful!
If you’ve had a serious knee injury that’s actually caused damage, then that’s another story altogether… But if you’re experiencing daily, annoying knee pain then there’s some simple things you can do to keep moving and walk safely, without making it worse.
What can you do instead?
Something as simple as gentle bodyweight strengthening exercises like lateral steps with a mini band around your ankles or dumbbell or kettlebell deadlifts, air squats with a band around the knees for proper alignment and glute bridges are good choices to help keep your knees in good condition.
If you happen to be a runner and running is not an option for you at the present moment, then try a two-handed kettlebell swing as a way to keep your cardiovascular endurance in top shape. Your knees will love you for it.
Flexibility exercises like a dynamic warm-up for the leg muscles help maintain movement and range of motion in your joints and reduce the amount of strain which is placed on them with daily activity and exercise. Just make sure you don’t over-do it.
It’s important that you never feel pain when you do any of these movements.
Remember, knees are meant to bend. They’re designed to help us walk, kneel down, squat, jump, and go up and down stairs – not to stay still and rest all day!
(Which is what a lot of people are told by their doctors to do!)
It’s important to always start slow with gentle stretching and strengthening exercises and build up slowly.
Although it may feel like knee pain is something you’ll have to learn to live with and might not be able to be as active as you once were – that’s not always the case.
Don’t just accept rest, painful injections and taking painkillers as your only solution. There’s a way to get back to living a life you enjoy.
What to do next
If you want more information on how to ease knee pain and keep active without needing pills, injections, or surgery, we offer a FREE Discovery Visit consultation just for you.
It’s a FREE one-on-one 30-minute consultation with one of our knee pain specialists to help answer all of your pressing questions and concerns. Finally learn how to unlock the agonizing mystery of knee pain and get back the active lifestyle you deserve, for good!
To find out more call (760) 503-4440 and one of our specialists will be happy to assist you.
Or you can visit here to instantly download our FREE knee pain guide to learn quick tips on how you can begin easing your knee pain today: https://www.level4pt.com/knee-pain/
For more than 16 years, thousands of athletes, fitness enthusiasts and active people of all ages, levels and sports including Olympic medalists, professional, collegiate and recreational athletes have consulted Oscar; looking for answers to concerning questions about a fast end to their pain and best ways to improving performance.
Prior to living in Carlsbad, CA, he worked as Clinic Director for a 20,000 sq.ft. sports physical therapy and performance center. He became known as the “athlete whisperer” in the Pacific Northwest by becoming the leading sports performance enhancement physical therapist and CrossFit injury rehab and performance specialist. He also was known as a consultant to the Nike WHQ in Portland, OR.
Oscar’s passion for excelling in sports earned him the opportunity to compete in soccer both at the Division 1 collegiate level at the University of San Francisco and at the professional level playing for the California Jaguars; giving him the understanding and experience of knowing what it takes to perform and excel at the highest level of competition. Oscar is an orthopedic and sports performance specialist with a true passion for helping athletes and fitness fanatics of all ages and divisions, serving as an educator to bridge the gap between rehab and strength and conditioning.
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