B.A.S.S. – Balance. agility. strength. stretching

BEACH B.A.S.S for Week 4 - Neat Knees

By carolyn kenny

Your knees do plenty of work every day, especially when you're walking downhill, going down stairs or getting out of a chair. But keeping them comfortable isn't just about strengthening the muscles around the knees.

Your hips and feet have an important role too.

Start with a quick check

Next time you walk down stairs, notice what happens at your knees. Do they stay approximately in line with your feet, or do they tend to drift inwards?

Don't try to force them into a particular position. Just become aware of how you're moving.

Why this matters

Your kneecap, or patella, moves against a groove in your thigh bone (femur) as you bend and straighten your knee. Together, they form the patellofemoral joint (PFJ).

When you walk downhill or descend stairs, the quadriceps muscles at the front of your thigh work hard to control your movement. This increases the load through the patellofemoral joint, which is why these activities can sometimes bring on pain around the front of the knee.

Good dynamic alignment helps your muscles and joints manage these loads. This is where your hips and feet become particularly important.

Your buttock muscles help control the position of your thigh and knee, while your feet provide a stable, adaptable base underneath. If either end isn't doing its job well, the knee may have to manage more than its fair share.

Research shows that strengthening both the hip muscles and quadriceps can help people with patellofemoral pain. It's not a choice between strengthening your knees or your hips. Both matter!

What to do now

Keep practising the foot mobility and stability work from Weeks 1–3 of Beach B.A.S.S. All that attention to your feet has been helping more than just your feet!

This week, Anna-Louise adds movements that loosen and strengthen the hips, build buttock endurance and improve quadriceps flexibility. Together, these exercises help improve strength and control throughout the leg.

The aim is to make everyday activities like walking down slopes, using stairs and getting up after a relaxing read under your beach umbrella more comfortable.

This week's reminder: Happy knees need help from above and below.

Physiocise TRAVELS

We love seeing the adventures our clients get up to outside of class.

Each term, we feature photos of our clients doing physiocise exercises in the real world. Some are taking a table stretch in Peru; others are doing lunges in their backyard. It can be anywhere, anytime!

Make sure you send us any of your own ‘Physiocise Travels’ photos. We will feature them in our quarterly newsletter.