Washington Business Daily

How can I get more flexibility in knee joints?

I am in my late 40's and quite active. I have had numerous knee surgeries in my younger years, all rather minor ones, but I have lost, a long time ago, the ability to squat or kneel and have my hips touch my calves. I have been trying to actively stretch my knee joint and I think the actual ligaments, but my one side is almost and the other is a little further away from complete. If anyone has any PT training or along that line with advise I would appreciate it. As I grow with more birthdays, I am really tring to maintain the most flexibility that I can. All in health. Thanks for any replys.

Public Comments

1. I have had reconstructive knee surgery on each knee, and I'm 49. Hamstring stretches and straight leg raises (both up and down, and to the side) help me the most. Glucosamine and chondroitin supplements also keep the knees flexible.
2. I am currently in PT for a knee injury and some of the things they are having me do to regain my flexibility as well as ROM are straight leg raises, wall slides(u stand up aganist a wall with ur feet shoulder width apart and squat up to 90 degrees or as far without pain as u can go, hold for 3-5 seconds then come back up, repeat 10-15 times), heel slides(where u sit with ur good leg bed and ur "bad" leg straight, u then slide ur heel along the floor, bending ur knee as far as u can w/o pain, hold it there for 5 seconds then repeat 15 times), hamstring and quad stretches will also help to loosen up the tightness and increase ur flexibility. I have been doing this for the last 7 weeks and have seen significant improvement with my ROM as well as a decrease in inflamation and pain. I am 23 however and the injury is almost 3 months old, I am a competive athlete so the progress is going slow (to me anyway). good luck