Knee Pain When Lunging
Knee pain is one of the most common issues people have when doing lunges. If you have knee pain every time when you lunge what you are going to do?
Quit the exercise? Skip the entire workout? Or power through and suffer later?
I will tell you this longer you will continue to do the exercise that causing you pain, the more long term damage you are going to get.
But when it comes to lunges, You don’t have to stop lunging altogether if you get knee pain when doing lunges. Just alter the direction in which you’re lunging.
The direction of the lunge makes a difference. Forward and reverse lunges work on the knee and hip differently.
Open Chain and Closed Chain Exercises
Forward lunges are so called (open chain exercise)
which means that your foot is not in contact with the ground. A closed chain exercise like a reverse lunges
is one where the working limb is in contact with the floor or other fixed object.
Problem With Forward Lunges
But the problem with forward lunges is first.
The front leg is in an open chain position and absorbs a lot of force the moment your foot hits the ground.
And second.
The muscles of the quadriceps are stretched when the knee is already partially flexed. In this stretched, eccentrically loaded position, the landing force goes directly into an already stinging patella tendon
and feels like a knife digging into your knee with every rep.
That’s why forward lunges cause you pain.
Pain FREE Lunges
But when you change the direction of your lunge to the reverse lunge or step-back lunge you are fixing all the problems and here is why.
The reverse lunge is a closed chain exercise.
The knee on the working leg is supported from the very beginning of the exercise, the front leg starts and stays in the closed chain position, so the stability of the front leg and knee joint is enhanced.
The muscles of the working hip flex more with a reverse lunge as you step back than during a standard forward lunge, relieving some of the pressure going through the patellar tendon. That’s because one of the four quad muscles–the rectus femoris which has an attachment above the hip,
which aids in flexion- crosses the hip joint. It relaxes a bit due to the angle, generating less force across the knee.
The force from a reverse lunge gets directed in a more vertical and backward angle which helps to load the hip and the quad better. By taking a step down and back you are loading the quads safely.
For those guys who have knee pain change your forward lunges to reverse lunges to finish the leg day and feel no pain.
I hope you found this information helpful.
See YouTube version of this article: https://youtu.be/9xzQ894C-mU?feature=shared
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