Swimming is a low-impact exercise that strengthens the muscles surrounding your knees, which may help reduce pain and improve your overall well-being. Because the buoyancy of the water supports the body weight while swimming, joints are under less stress, which lessens knee pain.
If you have arthritis in your knees, your doctor might have advised against doing strenuous exercises like trail running, jumping, or performing squats and lunges because they could result in severe pain and worsen your knee condition. However, it is advised to engage in moderate exercise to reduce arthritis-related knee pain and avoid gaining weight, which can further strain your knee joints.
How Swimming is helpful for knee pain
Maintaining your weight while exercising with swimming can help. Losing weight relieves pressure on weight-bearing joints, such as your arthritic knees, which can help lessen pain. You may be feeling lethargic because of weight gain or inactivity itself if you’ve noticed a decrease in energy or increased fatigue since you’ve had arthritic knee pain, even if you haven’t been as active. When you have knee arthritis, it’s critical to keep up your activity level to promote overall health and lessen joint pain.
Your health and fitness can be improved by swimming without harming your joints.
- Strengthen the muscles around your joints
- Help you maintain bone strength
- Give you more energy to get through the day
- Make it easier to get a good night’s sleep
- Help you control your weight
- Enhance your quality of life
- Improve your balance
Following are the exercises you can try in water to reduce your knee pain
1. Water Walking
Similar to swimming, knee strain is lessened in the water, thereby reducing knee pain. A lot of people discover that the temperature relieves joint pain. Walking in the water provides more resistance, but it also relieves knee strain.
2. Water Aerobics
People with arthritis are drawn to water aerobics, also known as aquatics or aquatic exercise, because the classes provide a challenging but low-impact workout.
3. Hydrotherapy
Physiotherapy performed in a warm-water pool is known as hydrotherapy. Your muscles can relax due to the temperature and support provided by the water.
4. Hip & Lower Leg Exercises in Pool
These exercises include forward lunges, squat jumps, hip kickers, and frog jumps in waist-deep swimming pool water. It is necessary to perform these exercises cautiously and under supervision.
Conclusion
Swimming emerges as a highly beneficial and low-impact exercise for individuals experiencing knee pain, particularly those with arthritis. Its ability to strengthen knee-supporting muscles, coupled with the buoyancy of water reducing stress on joints, makes it a key player in pain reduction and overall well-being. For those with arthritis, engaging in moderate swimming not only helps manage knee pain but also supports weight management, essential for alleviating pressure on arthritic knees. Beyond pain relief, swimming contributes to improved energy levels, better sleep, weight control, enhanced quality of life, and improved balance.
Additionally, specific water exercises such as water walking, water aerobics, hydrotherapy, and targeted hip and lower leg exercises provide tailored approaches to reduce knee pain, promoting a holistic and effective way to address knee arthritis concerns.
