Posted on May 01, 2019 by Jenny Cromack

As some of you may know, through either my grumbling or occasional limping, I injured my knee playing rugby about a month ago. Getting injured sucks as it really effects your usual training routine, such as working legs (cue the “skips leg day jokes”). But it also affects daily tasks that otherwise would just be performed autonomously such as as getting in and out of bed, driving and running for the bus if you’re running late.

Before I continue further what I’ll say is I’ll always recommend seeing a professional about an injury before attempting to rehabilitate it yourself, just so you get a clear confirmation of what the exact injury is. With that being said, here’s my generic plan on how to rehab a dodgy knee.

Knee Rehabilitation Advice

  • First 24hrs to 1/2 weeks – During this phase the emphasis should be on reducing pain and maintaining mobility at the affected joint. Reducing pain can be done by applying the RICE principle (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation), Maintain mobility through still using the joint but in a pain free range such as walking and light movements.
  • Post-painful stage – After pain has subsided it’s time strengthen the area back up, beginning with exercises that use both feet on the ground. Shallow squats are a great way of re-introducing strength training back to the affected area, slowly working on squat depth weekly whilst working pain free. Once two foot squats have been mastered you can progress to single leg squats, repeating the same process of slowly working on depth.
  • Advanced stage – Once strength has returned you begin to work on exercises that develop your proprioception (sense of joint positioning). Balancing on one leg in a shallow squat whilst moving the other leg in the air in the direction of north, south, east and west is a great example of how to improve this. Squats onto a wobble board will also improve this.

So if like me, you ever suffer from a knee injury or have ‘dodgy knees’, these exercises on how to rehab a dodgy knee will help.

Fingers crossed none of you need this though!!!