Female Athlete’s Knees: 15 Knee Care Rules

Knee injuries account for a quarter of all sports injuries. After puberty, girls have an overall risk of ACL knee injury of 1 in 50. In college, women are 3 times more likely to sustain an ACL injury than men. Therefore, it is very important that athletes take action now to protect their knees. Whether you are a walker, competitive athlete or weekend cyclist, the basic rules of knee care apply. They include strengthening muscles (particularly hamstrings and glutes for girls/women), increasing flexibility, using proper technique, reducing excess weight, and knowing when to increase or decrease activity that puts stress on the knee. This article lists 15 ways to protect your knees and joint structure along with basic exercises to strengthen and stretch your body’s largest joint and surrounding musculature.

15 rules for knee care:

1. Train with a women’s specific functional training program especially for pivot sports.

2. Work with a strength coach who is aware of training topics unique to the female athlete, particularly ACL injury prevention strategies.

3. Shed extra pounds and maintain an ideal body weight. Every extra pound you carry puts an extra four pounds of pressure on your knee when you walk.

4. Check your posture. You may have kyphosis (rounded shoulders), lordosis (sloping back), scoliosis (curvature of the spine), flat feet, or other postural problems that can affect your gait and put extra pressure on your knees.

5. Train the core, the weakest link in the body. It also trains the back and hips to play in an athletic stance, the knee guard position.

6. Prepare properly for your sport. Begin a strength and conditioning program 8-10 weeks before the season or a new activity. Make sure balance and agility and plyometric training are part of your overall program. Avoid actions like full squats, where the hips drop below the knees, running downhill, and climbing stairs two at a time.

7. Learn to jump and land correctly. Jump straight as an arrow and land light as a feather, on tiptoes to heels with hips, knees, and ankles flexed. Maintain a neutral spine position with a straight back. Keep your chest over your knees and your knees over your feet. Land on the ball of your foot and dip into your heel. Always perform jump training exercises on the proper surface, examples: landing on mats or a wooden floor.

8. Always be aware of using impeccable technique during training, especially with jump training.

9. Train functionally to improve performance and prevent injury. Functional meaning, closed chain (feet on the ground) activities that mimic the skills you would use in your sport. Most of your training should be done off of the exercise machines. Start with bodyweight activities and then progress to light weight resistance exercises outside. Once form is mastered with basic functional training exercises, progress to more advanced forms of strength training, e.g. using heavier weights or training with the Olympic lifts.

10. Improves agility and reaction times. Women contract their muscles more slowly than men, and women take longer to generate maximum force. Train more like tennis players. They maintain an athletic stance, keep low, and move with smaller, quicker steps. They also know how to parry, cut, twist, and turn. You don’t see many tennis players tear their ACL.

11. Strengthen the hamstrings, not just the quads. The hamstrings (back of the thigh) are often weaker than the quadriceps in female athletes. The hamstrings help stabilize the ACL and can also help improve vertical jumping.

12. Guard against overtraining and overuse. Avoid intense or prolonged workouts for long periods of time which create additional friction on the joint and increase the risk of overuse injuries.

13. Minimize knee stress while bicycling. Make sure your bike seat is at the proper height and avoid high gears.

14. Check your sports shoes. Worn or ill-fitting shoes can put your knees at risk. Outside of your workouts, avoid wearing high heels regularly.

15. Seek alignment help. Orthotics, custom-made foot supports, can help correct misalignment of the feet or legs.

Do exercises that strengthen the knee. Try these exercises to strengthen the muscles (quadriceps, hamstrings, and gluteals) that help stabilize and protect your knees:

one. One-leg quarter bends: Leaning against a wall, lift and extend one leg forward, slowly lower a quarter of the way down by bending the other knee. Roll your hips back as if you were going to sit in a chair. Hold for five seconds, slowly straighten up, repeat 10 times, and switch legs.

2. straight leg raises: Lie on your back, bend one knee with your foot on the floor; Slowly raise your straight leg about 12 inches off the floor, keeping your hips and lower back on the floor; hold for five seconds, then slowly lower down; repeat 10 times, then switch legs (add light ankle weights if comfortable; avoid this exercise if you have back problems).

3. standing squats: This exercise has been proven to increase the vertical jump and help create a co-contraction of the quadriceps and hamstrings. Stand with your feet hip-width apart. Lower into a squat with your hips moving back as if you were going to sit in a chair. The knees should remain in line with the feet, with no “wobbly” knees. Avoid leaning too far forward, keep your chest up, and look straight ahead. It’s important to keep your heels on the ground and not let your knees stick out in front of your toes.

Four. lunges: Stand up straight, feet together, hands out to the sides. Lunge comfortably forward with one leg, keeping the knee over the foot and behind the toes. Sit into the lunge until the knee of the trailing leg almost touches the ground. Keep your torso upright, chest and chin up. Push through the heel of the front leg to rise up and back to the starting position, then repeat the action on the other leg.

5. Stability Ball Leg Curl: This exercise is excellent for strengthening the hamstrings. Lie on your back on an exercise mat, with your hands and arms down by your sides, place both heels directly on a stability ball. Make sure the stability ball fits your height. Lift your hips off the floor until your body forms a straight line from your head to your ankles. Perform a leg curl, bringing the ball to the buttocks, return to the starting position, and then repeat. Keep your hips raised the entire time for 12-15 repetitions. Do 1-3 sets.

Stretches for quadriceps and hamstrings:

one. Standing Quad Stretch: When you are standing, reach your right hand and pull the heel of your right foot toward your buttocks. Keep your right knee pointing down. Hold for 20-30 seconds, switch legs. No bounces.

2. Standing Hamstring Stretch: Stand in front of an exercise bench, place the heel of one leg on top of the bench. Keep both knees soft (slight knee flexion). Bend at the hips, keep your chest up, and reach with both hands to your toes. Hold for 20-30 seconds, switch legs. No bounces.