Avoiding "Superbowl Knee" - A Pain Free Way to Enjoy the Game

You're all ready to settle in and watch the most important game of the football year. You've prepared all your favorite snacks, invited the biggest football fans in your group of friends to join you, and you've settled into your most comfortable chair. You're ready to indulge in one of the great pleasures of being a sports fan: watching the Superbowl, preferably while decked out in full regalia and screaming at the television.

Now is not the time you want to be dealing with knee pain! However, sitting for long periods of time, as the duration of the football game, can cause your knees to become stiff and sore. Luckily, SimpleTherapy has some easy exercises and stretches that you can perform to keep your knee limber and relaxed. Try these either as a preventative measure before watching the big game, or perform them if pain happens to interrupt your enjoyment.

Calf Exercise

Sitting too long, even in your favorite chair in the ideal spot on the couch to watch the Superbowl, can be tough on the legs. When the calf muscles get too tight, it can prevent you from straightening your knee completely; the technical term for this is small flexion contracture. This can put stress on the cartilage in your knee. This exercise stretches the calf muscle, making sure your knees don't get too tight!

Heel Slide

When the hamstrings or quadriceps are stronger or tighter on one side of the body than the other, this can also be painful for the knee.  This exercise balances the hamstrings and quadriceps, which will improve your range of motion.

Pelvic Tilt

As comfortable as it can seem at the time, sitting too long can actually cause quite a bit of pain. This exercise strengthens the core muscles of the abdomen so that they properly support the lumbar spine, which will help relieve stress and pain in the legs and lower back.

Straight Leg Raise

This is a simple exercise that can do a lot of good. It strengthens the muscles in the thigh (especially the thigh muscles), as well as the lower back and abdomen. This exercise helps to stabilize the back, hip and knee, doing a lot of good all over your body.

Isometric Knee

If you have trouble moving your knee, this is a great exercise to try. Because it doesn't involve movement, it can be performed without gliding painful cartilage and has the benefits of strengthening the leg muscles around the knee and stabilizing the knee cap.

Front Lying Thigh

Lots of people have tight thigh muscles, and this exercise helps stretch them out, relieving pressure on the knee. Like the heel slide, it also helps balance out tightness in the hamstring and quadriceps.

All of these exercises can be found on SimpleTherapy, with easy-to-follow video instructions. If your knees are still giving you some trouble, now is an ideal time to sign up for our completely personalized home exercise therapy programs, which can help you watch football (and maybe even play it!) pain-free. Any time there is a break in the action, take a minute to do a quick stretch!