Do You Walk With A Stiff Knee?
Learn what causes you to walk with a stiff knee plus 2 easy exercises to help improve a stiff knee gait.
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What Causes A Stiff Knee Gait?
Before we get into exercises to improve a stiff knee gait, it first helps to understand why you may walk with a stiff knee to begin with.
If you walk with a stiff knee, often it's because you're having trouble bending your knee.
However, it doesn't really take that much knee bending to take a step.
We only use a small portion of our range of motion when we're walking.
However, if you have stiffness in your rectus femoris muscle, one of your quadricep muscles, it may cause trouble bending your knee.
The rectus femoris crosses the hip.
Therefore, when you're in hip extension and bending your knee at the same time, the rectus femoris is maximally stretched.
Stiffness in the quadricep muscles can press the kneecap against the thigh bone, causing pain, especially if you have kneecap arthritis, choncromalacia patella, or patellofemoral pain syndrome.
As a result, you may end up walking with a stiff knee in order to avoid this compression.
Exercise To Improve Stiff Knee Gait
Tip number one is an exercise to improve stiff knee gait.
This exercise focuses on the flexibility of your rectus femoris.
To do this exercise, stand with your hip in extension and then bend your knee.
You should feel your glutes working to hold your hip in extension. You should also feel your hamstrings activate to bend your knee.
Finally, you should feel a stretch in the front of your knee and thigh.
Do 15 to 20 repetitions of this exercise.
How To Walk Without A Stiff Knee Gait
Tip number two is a change in your walking pattern.
Instead of walking with a heel-to-toe pattern, focus on pushing off the toes of your back foot.
This way you're propelling your body forward with your back leg rather than pulling your body forward with your front leg.
Pushing off with your toes using your calf muscles naturally causes your knee to bend a little. That gives you you clearance to swing your leg through rather than swinging it around the side with a stiff knee gait pattern.
Conclusion
In summary, if you have knee stiffness when you walk, try bending your knee with your hip in extension and focus on pushing off the toes of your back foot when walking. These tips will help you to walk without limping
Need More Help For A Stiff Knee Gait?
If you live in the St. Louis area and would like to find out how we can help you improve your knee pain and stiffness, tap the button below to learn how we can help.
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