how can i make my knees stronger

If you are having joint problems, you should look into low impact cardio exercises. You should also look into the way your foot is impacting the floor when you are running, walking, jogging ect. You may be landing on your feet incorrectly which will cause you to have more pain than necessary.

I find that once you correct your "posture" so to speak the amount of stress that your knees/joints incure will be minimized.

Hopefully this helps.


Mia

Strength Training! Lower body exercises like body weight squats and lunges are great. If you're not sure if you are doing them correctly though, try resistance machines in a gym - the leg press is the best, followed by the leg extension for the quads and leg curl machine for the hamstrings. Start light and do sets of 12 repetitions. Don't forget to stretch!

I've had bad knees since I was 10. I was really worried that when I started doing a lot of exercise I'd make them worse again. I'm 5 weeks into a pretty intense workout schedule and my knees haven't failed me yet. The key is lots of stretching and making sure that when I'm doing squats and things like that my butt is out and my knees don't go past my ankles. Pay a lot of attention to your form and you should be ok. I didn't go as deep at first, but I notice that now I can push things more than when I started.

I have really bad knees as well, I heard that balancing exercises are good for strengthening the muscles that support your knees. I have started doing these, but will be keeping my eye on this post for any other suggestions. Its hard working out with bad knees, really limits what you can do

Joints unfortunately don't gain strength as tendons can't gain mass. But the muscles that surround the joints can be strengthened in order to ease the strain on joints themselves. It's mostly the quads that do a lot of leg work when exercising, along with strengthening the whole lower leg group of calves, hamstrings, and glutes can help with lower body function.

Also, don't overexert yourself if you feel the onset of pain. Keep proper posture and form for any exercise you do. If you end up shifting body position because you're trying to finish the routine vs. trying to finish as much of the routine you can do properly, can further damage your joints. Do what you can and work on strengthening the muscles and you should be able to feel a difference over time. But, once a joint's busted, it'll never be the same. Ever.

Strength training has helped me dramatically! My knees were so bad (from yrs of overuse/running etc) that they would sometimes just give out on me, or if I walked down a hill, pain would shoot through them and they'd buckle. I've been doing strength training for about 3 mos. now, and for the first time in YEARS, I can now do step classes again, and jog a bit. I'm careful with my movements (esp. lateral), but I find that the more strength I have in my leg muscles, the less problems my knees gives me. Good luck!

I recommend seeing a doctor to verify if the issue is because it is bone on bone (that is what normally causes knee replacements). If that is not the case, the doctor might send you to therapy which is where you will learn the correct strength exercises (depending on what is causing the pain).

For example, my pain was caused because I am knock kneed, so I had to strengthen my outer thigh muscles to keep my knee cap from tracking correctly.

Another thing that helped me is taking joint support supplements (Glucosamine, Chondroitin and MSM)...not sure if it is mental or physical, but it worked for me!!!!

Hope this helps!

I'd definitely see a doctor. But although it may not solve your immediate problem...it may give you hope: weight loss will help. I have "bad knees" that were helped alot by weight loss. It may simply be a combination of poor conditioning + bad knees + weight + bad form that is giving your knees a run for their money. A careful look at all of these things will probably be beneficial!