Knees

[NewZealander]

Moving right along from stretch pants and stretch marks...

As youngins' many of us may have all cranked those solly green springs up a bit tight.

Aside from ACL tears and the like, has anyone got any experience keeping their knees in good shape when they start to show signs of one to many bump runs?

Suggestions of chin straps, whippets and "skiing only powder, not bumps" are not necessary.

Recommendations on exercises and knee supports would be cool.

[phUnk]

Keeping a good strength balance between hamstrings & quads and keeping both stretched well has helped me keep the creak away.

[seldon]

Gloucosamine.

End of story.

[iceman]

I find that telling everyone what they can and can not say helps my knees a lot.

But if you've gone as far as you can with that (and I doubt that that is the case), listen to phUnk and strengthen your hamstrings.

An imbalance between quad strength and hamstring strength has been proven to be a direct cause of many, perhaps even most, knee injuries.

Bitch.

[Brett's Anus]

Exercise and maybe some knee supports would probably do the trick.

[basom]

Originally posted by iceman

An imbalance between quad strength and hamstring strength has been proven to be a direct cause of many, perhaps even most, knee injuries.

Bitch.

you sayin i got puny hammys?

bitch.

[iceman]

Skinny little puny hammies, yup.

But you got a giant pussy to ride on, so you got that workin' for ya, which is nice.

edit: seriously, though, with strong quads and relatively weak hammies, your quads can overpower the hammies and literally tear your knee apart. Or is this common knowledge?

[Bebe_Girl]

maintain a quad to hammy strength ratio 2:1

also, hip abductor strengthening is key to healthy knees. I'm a physical therapist and so many people skip the hips because it's not part of most strength or conditioning programs. do it!

C'mon isn't it all about core balance and strength.

Lastly, box jumping and plenty of it.

[Bebe_Girl]

Originally posted by seldon
Gloucosamine.

End of story.

Heroin

End of story.

Dope.

[Hammertime]

Originally posted by Bebe_Girl


Lastly, box jumping and plenty of it.

Jumping box is firstly important.

[AltaPowderDaze]

If bebe girl is offering you should jump on her box. that'll help your hip flexors if you're doin the work. everybody else is giving good advise. take the glucosamine, balance quads/hams, and train plyometrics for explosiveness. stretching will help a lot, especially between sets when you're lifting. try turning your toes out on the leg extension to work the inside/medial collateral supporting muscle or in for the outer/lcl. abduction/aduction-- if you keep up with these you won't get the sore hips and groin like you do when coming back from a mid season injury.

[altagirl]

Glucosamine never did that much for me in the first place, and then this winter I developed an allergy to shrimp so now I'm not supposed to take glucosamine (evidently it has some shellfish component to it.)

But SAM-e supplements worked better for me anyway.

And plenty of lifting and balance work. Squats, lunges, hamstrings, etc.