After a bit of time out, this week has been spent reacquainting myself with some awesome clients. It’s been brilliant. Every session has started with a giddy catch up before the hard work puts chit-chat out of reach.
With all but one client, that is (you know who you are!). Rather than her standard bounding towards me, she was hobbling over, manically shouting ‘Ni”.
I felt like an extra in The Holy Grail.
Turns out, during our training hiatus, she started running home from work every night to maintain the fitness level she had worked so hard to achieve. She has a history of knee trouble but the benefits of time-efficient, regular and (seemingly) straightforward exercise were just too seductive…
… At least until last Friday’s journey home, when her swollen knee gave way and left her limping to the nearest tube station.
Even though I felt her pain today, I had no choice but to reluctantly add to it by telling her she couldn’t train; she needed to see a physio.
As pesky as a niggly knee can be it’s a pretty common complaint that can arise from overuse (a marathon runner’s nemesis), a misalignment, weak hip or glute muscles, foot issues (flat footers are more susceptible) to name but a few.
How you deal with knee trouble, really depends on the extent of the problem – which, without medical intervention, you can only really estimate from the nature of the pain. If the pain is permanent or acute – there’s only one option for you and your trainer – quit sessions until you’ve sought medical advice and treatment.
If the issue is at the front (around your kneecap), comes and goes and occurs without signs damage to the joint, you may well be experiencing patellofemoral pain that around 40 per cent of knee pain sufferers are afflicted with.
If this is the case, you may be able to continue training but you should focus on gentle stretching and strengthening those maligned muscle groups that your poor knee has probably been compensating for – and temporarily avoid high impact cardio/conditioning.
Here are some great exercises to get you started:
Stretches
· Heel cord stretch: From a standing position, take a big step forward with your left foot, maintaining a soft left knee. Keep both feet firmly on the floor and lean your hips in towards the wall to stretch through your calf muscle. Hold the stretch for 20 seconds and repeat 2/3 times on each leg.
· Hip and quad stretch: Kneel on one knee with your other foot flat in front of you on the floor. Lean forward toward your front leg, stretching the front of your hip downward. Grab the ankle of your back leg and pull it toward your bottom to deepen the stretch. Hold the stretch for 20 seconds and repeat 2/3 times on each leg.
· Standing hamstring stretch: Rest one foot on a stable chair/bench, leaving one foot on the floor and maintaining soft knees. Lean forwards and down, keeping your back straight, until you feel a stretch in the middle of the hamstrings.
Strength exercises
· Knee squeezes: Lie on your back with both knees bent and place a pillow between your knees. Squeeze your knees together and hold for ten seconds. Repeat this exercise eight times.
· Squats: it is a complete fallacy that you cannot squat if you have knee pain. Providing your form is right, the squat can be a key exercise in your training armoury to help rehabilitate your knee. With your spine in a neutral position and your shoulders relaxed, have your feet slightly more than shoulder-width apart, brace your abdominal muscles and keep your knees soft. Squat by pushing your hips backwards (imagine you are trying to shut a door with your bottom). Don’t lower yourself by bending your knees, in fact don’t even think about lowering your body – providing you push your hips backwards steadily, you will inevitably descend but will do so safely and effectively. Once your upper and lower leg is at a 90-degree angle, slowly rise, gently tilting your pelvis and squeezing your glutes as you reach standing position. Aim for 3 sets of 12 – 20 reps.
· Bridges: Lie on the floor on your back with the hands by your side and your knees bent and your feet firmly planted on the floor, shoulder-width apart. Pushing through your heels, lift your hips off the floor while keeping your back straight and hold the position for 5 seconds. Slowly lower back to the starting position. Aim for 3 sets of 12 – 20 reps.
I’m hoping my wonderful client gets the green light for us to start training again in the next few weeks. If she can, I told her to swap a holler of ‘Ni’ for ‘Ekki-ekki-ekki-pitang-zoom-boing!’.
Unsurprisingly, she looked at me like I’d finally cracked.
