Hi. I'm Natalie. And today Veritas Health is going to bring you five knee stretches to help reduce arthritis pain. These stretches are easy, gentle, and very appropriate for beginners. If you have a diagnosis of arthritis and it's causing knee pain, it's especially important to keep your joint as flexible, mobile, and as strong as possible. These stretches can help stretch the muscles and tissues around the joint, and help improve joint mobility, and relieve pain.
The first stretch I'm going to show you, guys, is a Standing Quad Stretch. You can use a chair, a wall, or something sturdy for a little bit of balance. You'll take your ankle and pull it towards your buttocks, looking for a gentle stretch to the front of your thigh. Hold this stretch for 10 seconds. And you can work up to three to five times on each side.
If the stretch causes any increase in pain or new symptoms, please stop doing it and consult with your provider. The next stretch I'm going to show you guys is a Hip Flexor Stretch. This can be performed kneeling on the ground. You'll take the leg you want to stretch, place a knee on the ground, and shift your weight forward until a gentle stretch is felt through the front of the thigh, or the hip. You can hold this for 10 seconds, and work up to 30 seconds. Perform three times on each side.
If kneeling is uncomfortable or painful for your knees, you can modify this stretch by putting your foot up on a second stair, or a sturdy chair for a little bit of support. And then shifting your weight forward until once again, you're feeling a gentle stretch to the front of that thigh and hip. You can hold this for 30 seconds, working up to three times on each side. The next stretch I'm going to show you guys is a Forward Fold. This can help stretch out the low back muscles and the back of the legs or the hamstrings.
To do this, you'll have your feet about hip-width apart with just a soft bend in the knees. You'll then lean forward reaching towards the ground. If you can't reach all the way to the ground, that's OK. You can either rest your hands on your shins, or you can use a pillow or a cushion to place your hands on. I'm going to have you hold for 10 seconds down here looking for a gentle stretch through the back of your legs, and maybe your low back.
The next stretch I'll show you guys is a Calf Stretch. For this you can use a wall, or a chair, or something sturdy to place your hands against. You'll then take the leg you're going to stretch and place it behind you with your heel on the ground. Your other leg will be in front with a little bit of bend in the knee. And then shift your weight forward until you feel a gentle stretch through the back of your calf muscle.
<p>You can hold this stretch for 30 seconds, working up to three times on each side. An alternative way you can do this stretch is by placing a slight bend in your knee while keeping your heel on the ground. This will help isolate a different muscle of your calf complex. Once again, you can perform this three times on each side for about 30 seconds. </p>
The final stretch I'll show you guys is a Knee Flexion Stretch. This can be performed either laying on the ground or on your bed. And can help maintain your knee range of motion into flexion. So you'll lie on your back. And take the leg you want to stretch and slide your heel towards your buttock. If you don't have much of a stretch here, you can give yourself a little bit of overpressure.
You can pull like this looking through a gentle stretch through the knee and the hip. You can hold for 10 seconds and work up to five times on each side. To learn more about how to reduce knee arthritis pain, please visit us at Arthritis-health. And be sure to subscribe to our channel for more videos like this. Thank you for watching.
