How to prevent knee pain during exercise

One of the most debilitating injuries that you may face as you go about your workout program is knee pain. Knee pain can quickly take you out of the ‘game’ altogether, forcing you to rest until fully recovered.
In some cases it may not be so severe and is something that you can work through, but regardless of the severity, you definitely will not be getting in a fully effective workout session.
So what can you do to prevent knee pain during exercise? Prevention is always the best method and there are definitely a number of things that you can do to put a stop to this problem.
Let’s take a quick look at the main points to note.
Wear Properly Fitting Running Shoes
The very first way to prevent knee pain during exercise is to wear properly fitted running shoes. One of the biggest causes of knee pain, especially among runners, is running shoes that don’t provide the right amount of support, or runners that aren’t supporting your arch.
Get checked out when you go to purchase your running shoes as this may influence which pair you should buy. In some cases if you have a severe enough foot arch, you may need to look at getting custom-built arch supports created.
Strengthen The Quad Muscles
The second way to prevent knee pain is to strengthen the quad muscles. If you have weak quads, especially if your inner or outer quad is overpowering the other, this can cause the knee cap to be pulled in one direction and that can create additional rubbing and friction that sets off the pain in the first place.
By performing regular quad strengthening exercises, you can help to prevent this and ensure that you are also strengthening the ligaments and tendons that surround the quad.
Leg press, squats, lunges, step-ups, and split squats are all great quad strengtheners.
Remember To Stretch
The third thing that you should do to prevent knee pain from starting is to make sure that you remember to stretch after each workout session.
Stretching out the quads and all the other muscles in the lower body can prevent the build-up of tension, which could also lead to excess strain on the ligaments and tendons surrounding the knee cap.
Stretching only takes a few minutes at the very end of your session, but will definitely be well worth it for the injury prevention results you’ll get.
Cross Train
Finally, the last way to prevent knee pain is to cross train. Knee pain does often come about because of an overuse injury from doing the same exercise over and over again. By cross training, you’ll be placing a different form of stress on the knee joint, reducing the chance of pain, while also targeting different muscles in the body as well.
So there you have the primary things to note about how to prevent knee pain. Get these in place in your workout program and you will be on your way to staying pain-free for the time to come.