Pilates can help Runner’s knee

Yes it is very common for runners to have regular knee problems. The weekend warrior syndrome or amateur athlete.  Some of the more common problems runners experience are tight hamstrings, knee and joint problems, plantar fasciitis and more.  We’ll look at runner’s knee to start and then how Pilates can help runners.

What is Runner’s Knee

As the name suggests, runner’s knee is a common ailment among runners. But it can also strike any athlete who does activities that require a lot of knee bending , like walking, biking, and jumping. It usually causes aching pain around the kneecap.  Runner’s knee isn’t really a condition itself. It’s a loose term for several specific disorders with different causes. Runner’s knee can result from:

• Overuse. Repeated bending of the knee can irritate the nerves of the kneecap.
• Overstretched tendons (tendons are the tissues that connect muscles to bones) may also cause the pain of the runner’s knee.
• Direct trauma to the knee, like a fall or blow.
• Misalignment. If any of the bones are slightly out of their correct position — or misaligned – physical stress won’t be evenly distributed through your body. Certain parts of your body may bear too much weight. This can cause pain and damage to the joints. Sometimes, the kneecap itself is slightly out of position.
• Problems with the feet. Runner’s knee can result from flat feet, also called fallen arches or over pronation. This is a condition in which the impact of a step causes the arches of your foot to collapse, stretching the muscles and tendons.
• Weak thigh muscles.

Runner’s knee is also called patellofemoral pain syndrome. Pilates can help strengthen the muscles in the leg around the knee. It can also help with tracking of the joints, in particular the patella, knee cap. Foot work on the reformer can help bring the light excess pronation or supination of the feet which in turn can be corrected.

Pilates on the reformer is great for strengthening the muscles in the legs and around the knee. You can target quadriceps, hamstrings, adductors and abductors. Some exercises on the reformer that can help strengthen around the knee are given below.

Reformer exercises for Runner’s Knee

• Feet in straps
  • bend and stretch
  • lift and lower
  • leg circles
• Bridge
  • hip rolls or articulated bridge
  • hinge bridge
• Footwork
  • parallel
  • pilates “V”
  • toes wrapped around the bar
  • high half toes
  • lower and lift (heels)
  • running
• Second position
  • parallel
  • laterally rotated
  • medially rotated

There are many other exercises on the reformer and in Pilates that can help Runner’s knee and target muscles around the knee. These are some of the more elementary or beginner exercises that people can start with to help strengthen the knee.