Got Knee Pain From Pickleball? Watch This!

Got some knee pain from playing pickleball? Well this is the video for you. Today I'm going to show you some stretches and exercises to relieve knee pain. So let's get started. So before we get started, you're going to need a couple pieces of equipment. Starting off, you will need a either a ball or you can just use like a pillow folded up, but you just need something that you're going to put in between your knees to squeeze into. A yoga block works really well as well, but you don't want your knees to be so close together. So something a little bit bigger like this is great. Also either a little piece of foam roll here or a rolled up towel. We're going to be doing some isometric exercises, so this just kind of gives you a target to squeeze onto. And then a stretch strap or a belt. Ideally we're going to again be doing some isometric exercises, so something that you can make with a loop. You can also use your hands for some of the stuff, but with some of the stretches you'll need, like I said, something solid. You can use a rope, a belt, or a stretch strap for all of that. So if you don't have that yet, hit the pause button and then come on back. So the first one is just going to be a calf stretch. A lot of times if you've got that knee pain, maybe if you've got a meniscus injury or something, you want to stretch all the muscles around the knees. So the calf, the hamstrings, and the quads, the big ones that you want to stretch out. You want to make sure that you're being gentle with the stretch. You want to just lengthen the muscles so they don't get tightened up and put more pressure around the knee because all of these muscles either cross the knee or the tendon comes up to the kneecap or the patella for the quad. So getting that stretch strap or the the belt or jump rope if you have one, just putting it around the ball of your foot here. So you don't want it on your toes because it might slip off, and you don't want it too low because you're not really going to get a good stretch. So with the calf stretch, you're using the stretch strap to pull your foot. You're not actively moving the foot towards you. All you're doing is giving that pull. You should feel it underneath here in the calf area. You might feel it in the knee or behind the knee because those muscles do cross, and if you've got some pain in that knee, you'll probably really feel it up there a little bit more. So giving it that good tension, not pain. You might get uncomfortable, but stretches should be a little uncomfortable, but they shouldn't be painful. This is going to be a full 30 second stretch. So holding it for 30 seconds, relax, and then come back and do that three times in a row. If you're interested in some real-time videos, you can click on that link up there, and I've got a whole bunch of those where you can follow along. After you do that three times, 30 seconds, you can actually just leave the strap there, and then go ahead and lie down. You don't have to put your head all the way down, but if you want to be comfortable, you can have a pillow there. I'm going to hold it up just a little bit because I'm talking to you and the camera here, but make sure you're comfortable. Don't end up irritating something else while you're doing it. So still having the strap there, but same thing. You're using the straps to pull up the leg this time to get that hamstring stretch. I like to leave this side propped up. Some people will bring it down. They feel like I get a better stretch, but I like leaving it propped up because I feel like it takes some pressure off of the back. So all I'm doing is I'm using the strap to pull my leg up. Try and keep your knee straight. That's the most important part because when you're doing a hamstring stretch, these hamstrings just like the calves come across the knee on the other side. So if your knee's bent, you're not really going to get a stretch there. So I see people sometimes do this to try and get the leg higher, but then again you're not really getting that stretch in there. So make sure that leg is straight and then you're coming up just like that, getting that nice stretch in there. If you want to kind of add the calf in there and get even more of a stretch, you can pull your toes up just like I did there. But if you then don't really feel it much in your hamstrings, relax that foot just a little bit and then you can get that hamstring stretch just a little bit more in there. So again holding it for 30 seconds, coming down, and then doing that three times. Then we're going to go into stretching the quad muscles. So then you're going to roll over onto your tummy. Now I'm switching sides just so it will still be closest to you, but you're just going to do the the same leg while you're rolling over. So this time I'm putting the belt kind of around my ankle here, getting that set, and then just rolling over depending on where it is. You might have to kind of get it in the spot. And then again make sure you're comfortable. I'm propping up on my elbows, but if you need to lie all the way down to be comfortable, make sure you're doing that. So about having it about at the ankle area, and then I'm just gently pulling my heel towards my bottom until I feel that stretch. Now on the front thigh area, and again you might feel it in in your knee because that quad muscle goes to the quad tendon that's connected to that knee cap or that patella. So again good tension, but you don't want it to be painful. And then if you're sitting here and you get about 20 seconds in, you might be able to pull just a little bit more for that last 10 seconds. But again 30 second hold, come down. You don't have to go all the way down, but make sure that muscle is relaxed, and then come back up and do that three times in a row. After you get all the nice stretching in and it's loosened up, then we're going to go into some isometric exercises. Isometric exercises are really nice because if you're having a lot of pain, a lot of times you can start getting that strengthening in there, but you're not getting, you're not doing any movement. That's what isometric is. You're contracting the muscle, but you're not moving. And that's important because if you're hurting a lot, sometimes it's the movement that makes it hurt. So you can start activating the muscles and it's usually not as painful or sometimes not painful at all. So we're going to do just a quad set and so this comes in where you have your your roll and it's just going to be used as a target. So it can be a rolled up towel, it can be like a little foam roll like this, but you just want it to be small, not like a big foam roll. You don't have to use anything. I just find that this helps kind of give you a target to push into. And sometimes you might not have full motion in your knee, so you can't straighten it all all the way out. So with the quad set, the key here is to keep your heel down. Some people will want to kind of come up like that, but that's a different exercise and that's actively moving it. So keeping the heel down and all you're trying to do is push your knee down into the roll and you're activating that quad muscle right there. So I'm pushing down, so you can see this muscle is activating a little bit, just holding it for maybe three to five seconds, and then relaxing. Pushing down, keeping that heel down, contracting that quad muscle just to where you feel some tension again. It shouldn't be painful, especially isometric exercises. Three to five seconds and then relaxing. So same thing with this, you can do it for reps if you want to do five reps, or you can just do a 30 second timer and do as many as you comfortably can in those 30 seconds. So kind of up to you how you like to do it, but ideally maybe you want to progress, you want to hold it for a little bit longer, or do a few more each time to keep getting it going. Then the next one is going to be a hamstring set. So it's the same idea where you're activating the hamstrings, but you're not making a big movement. So this time what I am doing in my head is I'm sliding my heel up doing the hamstring activation there, but with the isometric you're not moving. So I'm just digging my heel into the couch or the bed or whatever I'm on, but kind of at an angle. So almost like if I was sliding it up, but this is preventing me from doing it. So I'm just pushing down, I should be able to feel it in my hamstrings right there, and then relax. So not pushing as hard as you can, you know this is maybe something you're just going to start with 20 to 30 percent of how hard you can push. Again it shouldn't be painful, it should be tolerable. It might be a little bit of tension in there. Hold for three to five seconds and relax. If that 20 to 30 percent feels fine and the next day you're not super sore, then you can go 40 to 50 percent pushing in there. And then when you get up to like pushing 80 percent or so, then you're probably ready for some other exercises. And you can check out some of my videos for some exercises where you're actually moving and using resistive bands. So then we're going to go into pushing out, going into hip abduction outwards, because these muscles here again come down into the knee area. But we're going to still do the isometric exercise. So grabbing the stretch strap or the belt with a loop in like this works really well. If you don't have the loop, you can use your hands. You can just kind of push them. You put your hands out like this, but it will be a little bit tiring. You're going to get an arm and shoulder workout if you're doing that as well. But just putting the strap kind of above the knee, so not right at the knee, but slightly above. If you want to lie all the way down, you can. I'm just kind of sitting up because it's a little easier. You can kind of prop back on your arms if you want to. But all I'm doing now is pushing out with both knees into the belt. So I'm going this way and the belt's stopping me. So I should now feel it on outside. You might feel it in the knee if you're having some knee pain. You might actually feel it in the hip because all these muscles go all the way up into the hip, all the way down to the knee. Same thing, holding that three to five seconds. Relax. And you can do it for time or you can do it for reps. Then you're going to get the ball or a pillow. Like I said, something just to kind of be in between. But you don't want it to be small like just your fist. But you can use, if you don't have something, two fists and then squeeze in. But if you've got some hand issues or some hand arthritis, that's going to be slightly uncomfortable. So it usually is a little bit easier to get a ball or a pillow and fold up the pillow just to have it in between. It doesn't have to be exact, but ideally you want your knees and your hips to be almost in alignment. So you don't want them to be way out and you don't want them to be all the way in. And then all I'm doing now is I'm pushing in. So I'm squeezing the ball, again maybe just starting off with 20 to 30 percent. You'll feel it on the inside, that groin area or those adductors for hip adduction. And then holding that for three to five seconds. Relax. Doing it for time or reps. And then if you're feeling good the next day, then you can you can squeeze in just a little bit harder. So there you have it. Those were stretches and exercises to relieve knee pain, especially when you're playing pickleball. If you'd like to help support my channel, click on the link up there. And don't forget to subscribe. We're Naughty Girl, yeah down there. And remember, be safe, have fun, and I hope you feel better soon.