Do You Get Knee Pain When Going From A Kneeling To A Standing Position?
Watch the video to learn how to go from a kneeling to standing position without knee pain.
Getting up from a kneeling position can be a challenge, especially as you age.
Many people who have knee arthritis complain of knee when going from kneeling to standing.
In fact, older adults will often avoid getting down on the floor to clean or play with their grandchildren because they're afraid that they won't be able to get up off the floor.
Fortunately, there are ways to make standing up from a kneeling position easier and less painful.
First though, it's helpful to better understand what cause knee pain when going from kneeling to standing.
What Causes Knee Pain When Going From A Kneeling To Standing Position?
There are several things that can cause knee pain when going from kneeling to standing. However, most of them are in some way related to the cartilage on the underside of the kneecap.
Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome
Patellofemoral pain syndrome literally means pain between the kneecap (patella) and the thigh bone (femur). When you stand up from kneeling, you have your knees bent to 90 degrees or more, and this causes compression between the cartilage on the kneecap and the front of the femur.
This is especially true if you have tight quadriceps because your kneecap sits inside of your quadriceps tendon.
The more your knee is bent, the tighter the quadriceps get, and the more your kneecap is compressed against your thigh.
Knee Arthritis
As you age, you can start to have cartilage loss on the back of the kneecap.
This in turn creates patellofemoral pain as noted above, but as your cartilage thins, it takes less compression force in order to cause knee pain.
The early stage of kneecap arthritis is sometimes referred to as chondromalacia patella.
As you get more toward the later stages of knee arthritis where you're nearly bone-on-bone, you need to be even more vigilant about using proper technique when going from a kneeling to standing position.
Patellar Tendonitis
Finally, if you get knee pain below the kneecap when standing up from kneeling, that can be caused by patellar tendonitis, or inflammation of the tendon that attaches the kneecap to your lower leg.
If you're overusing your quadriceps muscles when standing up from kneeling, then this creates more tension on the patellar tendon.
Fortunately, using your gluteal (butt) muscles more can help decrease how hard your quadriceps muscles need to work when standing up from kneeling.
How To Go From Kneeling To Standing Position Without Knee Pain
If you're kneeling, in the middle of the floor, crawl over to a stable object to help you stand up. This could be a chair, table, or anything else that's sturdy and within reach.
Next, you'll need to step up with one knee into a half-kneel, or lunge position.
Next, lean your trunk forward over your knee. This helps to engage your glute and hamstring muscles. Doing this will keep you from overusing your quadriceps muscles as mentioned earlier.
By leaning forward and allowing your head to drop, your bottom will naturally start to rise up. Then, you can bring your other foot underneath you and stand up.
Key Points To Keep In Mind When Standing Up From Kneeling
It's important to keep your knee aligned over your toes as you stand up. If your knee tends to move inwards, this can get your knee out of alignment in the patellar groove of the femur and cause patellofemoral pain.
By keeping your knee in line with your toes, you'll have better knee stability because your hip, knee, and ankle will all be in one line.
Make sure to push through your heel as you stand up. This helps to engage your glutes and hamstrings and take pressure off of your quadriceps.
Exercises To Help Knee Pain Going From Kneeling To Standing
Lunges
Lunges are the most effective exercise to help prevent knee pain going from kneeling to standing since the motion of a lunge almost precisely replicates the motion of getting up from kneeling.
If you have too much knee pain doing a full lunge, just start with partial lunges.
Learn more about how to do lunges without knee pain.
Quadriceps Stretches
As previously mentioned, if you have tight quadriceps, that can create more compression behind your kneecap as you stand up from kneeling.
Learn how to stretch your quadriceps here.
Need More Help For Knee Pain?
If you're having knee pain standing up from kneeling, it's likely that your knees bother you at other times as well.
For example you may have difficulty:
If your knees are giving getting up from kneeling or with any of these other activities, we'd be happy to help you here at More 4 Life.
Tap the button below to request an appointment with one of our specialists and we'll help you figure out what you can do to relieve your knee pain.