The ONE exercise you should do for lateral knee stability

Do you have pain on the outsides of your knees?

Does side to side movement bother you?

Do you feel unstable or pain with lateral movement?

The cause of the pain could very well be related to your meniscus, so let's beef up the stability of your knee so there is less rocking side to side.

Here's the ONE exercise I recommend (thanks to my Phys Therapist Ted Molaski for showing me this one):

Your collateral ligaments are the tough bands of connective tissue that help your knee resist valgus (knock-knee) and varus (bow-leg) stress forces.  Someone may be valgus or varus in alignment, but that is not what I'm talking about here.  This is about knee stability and and reducing the risk of meniscal or ligament damage or tears and reducing pain.

If you've had meniscal damage, or are suffering from arthritis, you may be slightly compressed in your lateral or medial knee compartment (or both).  This compression may cause the collateral ligament(s) to be a little loose - so let's get those ligaments snappy tight again and working to protect your knee.

Using a small stretchy band, place it just below your knees.

Keep your feet shoulder width apart (or a tiny bit wider).  Squat into the "1st baseman ready position" and then take SMALL steps forward.  RESIST the urge to let your legs get closer together, this is how you will strengthen that lateral collateral ligament.

For a bigger challenge, the lower you place the band the harder it is because you are creating a longer lever and more stress on the ligament, with the most challenging band position at your ankles.  You should not have any knee pain while doing this exercise.  If you do, raise the band to a less challenging position.

Let me know if this exercise works for you!

Here's to saving 1 million knees,

~Robin

Robin Robertson
Author, Healthy Knees Cycling
Owner & Manager, Bellingham Training & Tennis Club