can anyone help me with knee strength exercises

I had a patella stabilisation operation on my left knee about 6 years ago, recently i’ve felt my legs get weaker as i’ve not done much physical activity at all, I really felt my knee slightly move out of place earlier, it really hurt for a split moment as i felt the new ligament pull it back into place.

This has made me realise i need to up my physical activity to prevent another real dislocation as they were agony before my surgery and i’m not sure how i would cope now.

I will be starting gym in a few weeks, and hoping to do some bits at home too. What exercises will help strengthen this ligament and the surrounding knee muscles? I have really weak muscles full stop to be honest that have gotten worse over time.

Reply 1

Kyri

You need to load the connective tissue sufficiently to promote strengthening, but not so much to cause further injury. The exact exercises you should do depends on what you can handle at the moment with regards to pain. If anything causes an intense sharp pain, that's your body telling you it's causing more damage.

I'm not a doctor, but this is what I would do, and have done with patellar tendinopathy in the past...

Are you able to do squats and lunges? Because if you can do those without pain, gradually increasing the weight you can handle with good control will improve leg and joint strength. If those are too painful then you can start with easier stuff like stepping up and down from a low box, slowly and under control, to help build up your tendon strength. Or if you're going to the gym, you can use the leg extension machine with a very light weight, and use the leg with the bad knee to slowly lift the weight, and slowly lower it. It's important, especially when dealing with an injury, that everything is done under full control, with no jerking of the weight, or fast dropping of the weight.

Reply 2

DanielJack0

Original post by greentiger

I had a patella stabilisation operation on my left knee about 6 years ago, recently i’ve felt my legs get weaker as i’ve not done much physical activity at all, I really felt my knee slightly move out of place earlier, it really hurt for a split moment as i felt the new ligament pull it back into place.
This has made me realise i need to up my physical activity to prevent another real dislocation as they were agony before my surgery and i’m not sure how i would cope now.
I will be starting gym in a few weeks, and hoping to do some bits at home too. What exercises will help strengthen this ligament and the surrounding knee muscles? I have really weak muscles full stop to be honest that have gotten worse over time.

Sorry to hear about your knee pain! Try exercises like leg raises, hamstring curls, squats, step-ups, and bridges to strengthen your knee. Wearing a knee brace can also help support your knee during exercises. Start slow and talk to a trainer or physical therapist for the best advice.