There are many possible causes of pain over the front or “deep in” the front of the knee or knee cap. These include damage to muscles, tendons, ligaments, cartilage, may be related to “wear & tear” (later BLOG on this !), alignment or even from the hip (referred pain – Later BLOG on this to). 

NONE OF THE EXERCISES SHOULD CAUSE PAIN- during or after them: They should strengthen and make your knees feel good.

“Guinea Pig Exercise”: Intrigued ? see 2 photos below …..

Imagine the towel is living guinea pig (gp) you are trying to hold the gp with your knees so it cannot run away  DO NOT Squash it! This pressure is maintained THROUGHOUT the exercise which should take about 30 seconds.

As you can see the ankles are also crossed first one way then repeated for another 30 seconds the other ankle on top. So the whole exercise routine should take 1 Min approx. The exercise is as follows:-

• NOW, this is the clever bit ! 1st press your knees together against towel guinea pig (keep this pressure) NOW press your ankles against each other (1 forward, the other  backwards) for 5 seconds and release briefly and repeat 5 times BUT DO NOT let the pressure at the gp change …….. NO MORE & NO LESS pressure – it takes CO-ORDINATION & MUST NOT HURT AT ALL, maximum pressure but no PAIN!

 Sandwich Exercise: Diagram below

Called this as the first part (A) is repeated 1st and last and the middle part (B) is like a filling in the middle … does that make sense?

Part (A) – (the bread): A firm pad is placed under the back of the knee. The 1 in the circle means do this first – press your thigh down against the pad firmly but painlessly and maintain this throughout part (A). Next straighten lower leg shown by the dotted line and by the 2 in a circle. There will be stretch down the back of your leg and the front thigh muscle (the quads) should feel firm. No pain.

Part (B) – (the filling): The pad moves down to behind your ankle. downward pressure against pad is exerted now at the knee and ankle at the same time as shown by the 1’s in the circles. Again some stretch and firmness to the quad muscle. No pain

Do 5 repetitions of each  Part (A), (B) & (A – again) so that is a total of 15 reps……

Single Leg Balance: Just Play video.

This shows someone standing and balancing for a few seconds on a pillow with their eyes open. You could try at first WITHOUT pillow & even start with holding onto something stable, much later on try with your eyes closed and gradually increase to 1 Min. Start where you feel confident & gradually make harder.

As with all these health BLOGs like what you like, ignore what you don’t. But it might make you want and go and discuss your problem with your GP or Physio

Enjoy  Alan