Knee Health and Newton's Law

Whether you run, play tennis, enjoy team sports, or frankly, move at all, you may be at risk for a knee injury.  Joints are intricate pieces of machinery.  Prone to wear and tear as well as stress and twists.  Recovery can be long and arduous, but there are ways to build up your strength, possibly delay or remove the need for surgery, or best of all, keep them strong before you fall into the group of athletes or chronic pain sufferers known for their "bum knees".

As most of us know, swimming and cycling are the sports recommended most for those suffering from knee problems.  Swimming not only builds strength, but water workouts provide cushion and stability, as well as a healthy form of resistance exercise for our muscles and joints.  

Cycling may present an initial challenge.  You may feel a few cracks or creaks if you do have an injury.  Start easy and listen to your body's messages about when to back off a bit.  In the long term, if you can deal with the strange feeling and noises emanating from your joint, the payoffs are tremendous.  Essentially, cycling holds the key to naturally solving knee problems.  The quadriceps.  Quadricep strength and building these muscles supports your knee and takes a lot of the pressure off of the joint itself.  The "work" belongs to the muscle group, where it belongs.  Not left to a set of bones (your knee joint) and the delicate cartilage that allows the joint to provide mobility and rotation.  

Runner's World describes, "When you walk, you keep your legs mostly straight, and your center of gravity rides along fairly smoothly on top of your legs. In running, we actually jump from one foot to the other. Each jump raises our center of gravity when we take off, and lowers it when we land, since we bend the knee to absorb the shock. This continual rise and fall of our weight requires a tremendous amount of Newtonian force (fighting gravity) on both takeoff and landing."

Imagine the force we don't even consider as we enjoy the most natural sport or activity of them all!  

Cross-training is for real.  Take some of that force off of those joints once in awhile.  You'll get better mileage!  Swim if you can -- and cycle -- most definitely.  Maybe there's a reason we never forget how to ride a bike!