I see a lot of athletes only do the one-legged, and two-legged forward fold during their stretch, which is a fantastic stretch for the knee joint. In this blog, I want to show a couple more stretches that are less common that can significantly reduce the chance of injury in your knee.
One-legged forward fold
Your knees are dynamic, it moves in an unlimited amount of ways when you're playing sports, so it's important that when you're strengthening and working on your flexibility that you're not just doing one thing over and over.
Superman
- Lay on your stomach with your hands by your side
- Lift your legs up
- Then lift your hands forward
Up Dog
- Start on all fours
- Make sure your wrist, elbow, and shoulder are in line on each side
- Gaze up
- Position the tops of your feet on the ground
- Lift your knees off the ground
Knee to Chest
- Lay flat on your back
- Make sure both legs are straight
- Slowly fold one knee towards your chest
- Do on the other leg
Figure Four
- Lay flat on your back
- Make sure both legs are straight
- Take your left ankle, put it on top of your right knee
- Lift your right leg
- Take your hands, poke them through the hole
- Grab your shin
- Pull back towards your chest
Bridge Pose
- Lay on your back
- Lay your arms flat on both sides
- Fold your knees and lay your feet flat on the ground
- Slowly lift your torso as high as you can
Crescent Lunge
- Make sure all ten toes are pointing forward
- Align your right front knee over your right ankle
- Check that your back is straight
- Support the pose by holding the ball of your left foot in position
- Slowly put both hands up
- Do the same for the other leg
One-legged Balance
- Start by standing straight
- Slowly lift your left leg, placing the foot on the right thigh
- Find your balance as you hold the pose
The micro-adjustments this pose will help strengthen the entire knee joint.