Knee Arthritis

I have bad knees and left knee is practically out.  So far knee is fine and doctors tell me to keep moving it and I can tell when I exercise they do definitely feel better.  I do walking away the pounds DVD's and I just started going back to health club the last 3 weeks.  Some people say elliptical is good for knees and same for treadmill.  Then other professionals say they are not good for the knees.  I have never heard any one say the stationery bikes are bad for your knees.  And I can do stationary bike fine.  But I like to mix it up.  When I had a trainer a few years ago she had me on all 3 machines and had me doing hills on treadmill!! 

Does anyone have and advice on exercises that are good for knees?  That they heard from their doctors, etc.  Thanks in advance for your help.

walkin in warm pool very nice, no stress on knee at all.

Molly:  You should be doing quadriceps strengthening exercises regularly, these are some of the most important ones to do.  OA (osteoarthritis) of the knee causes quadriceps dsyfunction which adds to the pain and instability of knee OA pain.  Ask your doc to refer you to a good PT to be taught how so you can do them on your own.  Don't do the knee extensions and hamstring curls on machines in the gym, they can be harmful.  Leg presses on a machine are good as long as you don't bend your knees to much when you do them.

Generally, low impact aerobic exercises to include elliptical, stationary bike, recumbent bike, and water exercises are all good choices to mix it up.

Good luck to you!

Thanks!   I did figure out that the hamstring curls hurt too much.  I stop doing.  I will check the other names of things I do.  I think leg presses I do.  It a squat sitting down, right?  I will copy these names and see what I am doing tomorrow.  Thanks again.  What about treadmill?  I only use it every once in a while.  I notice it aggravates my knees more so I do not use often anyway, just wanted you opinion.   Thanks again.

Molly:

Yep, the leg presses are like "sit down" squats.  Just make sure you do little pushes when you do them (i.e. don't bend your knees too much).  Treadmill can be good because it is low impact.  Just make sure you don't put any incline on it and don't do it too fast.  Cartilage has no blood supply.  The way it gets nutrients is by absorbing them from the joint fluid (synovial fluid).  Think of cartilage as being sponge like.  When you walk (like on a treadmill) low impact, that actually probably helps it.  But if you do it too fast it is too high impact, and if you do an incline, that can cause too much stress on the ligaments of the knee.

Good luck

btw... one of best quadriceps strenthening exercises which gives no stress to the knees are straight leg lifts.  Lay down, put your hands under your buttocks palms facing down and have one knee bent with that foot flat on the floor (prevents back strain).  Keep head back and neck relaxed.  Raise opposite leg with knee straight until elevated.  Move it up and down slowly until you feel a "burn" in the thigh muscle.  Do the same number of repetitions on the other leg.  Repeat 3 times each leg.  Do this 4-5 days a week.  If you do this religiously, 3 months later you should start to know significant leg strengthening and lessening knee pain.

 thanks for the info, both my knnes need complete replacement, just had wls on monday, is walking in the swimming pool good, w ill be doing straight leg raises per above. thanks again.

Thanks again Don for you posts!!!  I was doing leg extensions and I stopped immediately.  I am going to see about getting some physical therapy when I come back from vacation in a few months or so.  I will definitely, try the exercise you stated daily also!!

Hugs,
Molly