Pre Workout Stretch Routine for Painful, Sore Knees

overhaultraining.com/stretch-r...
Not to brag or anything, but my right knee is kinda awesome. It never hurts, there’s no pain when I’m squatting or running. It’s everything you want a knee to be…stable, strong, unmarred by scars. By comparison my left knee is shit. Don’t get me wrong, it could be worse. But left to its own devices, my left knee clicks in and out, slops around, get’s jammed, won’t bend, just plain hurts and has me limping around when I take my walk.
But after decades of seeing some great chiropractors, physical therapists and massage therapists, I’ve paid attention and learned some of the magic tricks they perform to transform me from a hobbled old man to a deep squatting machine in just minutes. I still keep my regular appointments to keep the train on the track, but I’ve also consolidated some simple techniques into my pre-workout warmup routine to ensure pain-free training sessions for myself.
In this post I’d like to share them with you.
To be clear, I’ve never had a specific injury to my knee outside of muscles getting tight, unbalanced and pulling the joint out of proper alignment. Also, I am not a doctor or therapist. I’m a 43 year old personal trainer who’s had a fair amount of aches and pains. I love to research injury prevention and have hired some great doctors and therapists who helped me come up with some simple techniques that allow me to train hard without getting injured.
There are 2 distinct issues that have caused me knee pain in the past, both very common.
ISSUE #1 - GAS PEDAL KNEE
I’ve done a more in-depth post before on Gas Pedal Knee. overhaultraining.com/exercises...
Here I’ll show you the two main pieces of my routine from that post that I do before every workout.
Essentially your quad gets tight and when you squat or lunge it causes too much compression in the knee. This can lead to pain, inflammation, and eventually, can cause arthritis. No fun.
Fortunately, this is pretty easy to address. It’s so easy that any time I let it continue to hurt for a day or two, and then finally remember to do these two simple things immediately relieving the pain, I smack myself in the forehead for not doing it sooner. Sorry, I digress…
ISSUE #2 - FIBULAR HEAD JAMS
Another issue that causes knee pain involves the fibular head getting stuck where it meets the tibia. I have this happen to my left knee at varying degrees regularly. Sometimes it just clicks and feels a bit jammed and tight. Other times it’s been pretty bad and left me limping around with a peg leg knee that won’t bend more than a few degrees. The kind of stuck that if I forced it to bend, I’m pretty sure there would be a loud pop and a visit to the surgeon. But my chiropractor will mess with it for 2 minutes and I’m 90 percent better by the time I get home, and back squatting heavy with a smile 24 hours later.
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[@cp3358]

very helpful,
thank you for this!

[@littyely]

“If you don’t have a foam roller… that’s silly” 😂 Ty for posting. I’m gonna give it a try.

[@fahadkhan7413]

Thanks a lot for this!!

[@JamieSDreyer]

You’re welcome a lot!

[@cjay3543]

Thank you!!!

[@JamieSDreyer]

Welcome!

[@HendersonHinchfinch]

Beautiful dog

[@JamieSDreyer]

Thanks!