Stretches to Help Joint Pain

For example, knee pain often happens as you bend it more, especially under a load like squatting down or going up stairs. This is usually because you have lost the ability to rotate your shin and thigh bones inwards as you descend. This can be caused by tightness in the ankles, weakness in the outer glutes, or spasms/tensions in the thigh or inner glutes. So, you may resolve your knee pain by stretching the lower calves region, massaging the thighs and strengthening your glutes in a 1 leg squat motion.

You would be surprised how simple it can be to greatly reduce the pain you feel day to day. You can follow the guidelines below to try this at home if you have knee, back or shoulder pain. The list of stretches do not include massage techniques or strengthening exercises as it was making the article way too long. I will do them in another newsletter.

knee Pain

If your knee pain happens at deeper bend angles only (squatting down) then it is probably related to an inability to rotate your hips, thighs and shin bones inwards. If the knee hurts at more gentle knee bend angles then thigh stiffness and muscle activation is more likely the cause.

Stretches – Thigh stretches of any kind are a must. The main issue is finding one that does not annoy the knee during the process. The couch stretch is probably the best, if that does not work then use the bench lying stretch if able to set it up.

The next place to look is probably a Glute stretch, most people get this one completely wrong in that they turn it into the pigeon hold from Yoga, which is NOT a pure glute stretch. Ensure you keep your knee at 90′ and it is felt in the glutes only.

Lower calf stretches can transform your knee pain in deep bends, the key here is to ensure your knee is bent so you feel the stretch in the lower calf down towards the Achilles.

The final ones to look at are hip internal rotation stretches, these are not very common but are so powerful. The one below is a hip joint capsule stretch, or you can use a pure internal rotation stretch if your knee allows it and have somewhere to secure your foot.

Agitations – Be careful of your leg in sitting positions, almost any prolonged injury is being aggravated at some point during the day by something we are doing, often without knowing. You should also check your sleeping position, especially if just hurt the knee while it is annoyed.

Lower Back Pain

If your pain happens mostly when sitting then it is likely a compression of the spine agitated by sitting. If it happens when moving, twisting or picking things up then it most likely the spine is being held out of position by spasms either in the back muscles themselves or around the sacrum. Upper back pain is often caused by restrictions in the rib cage and breathing patterns. 

Stretches – The thigh, glute and hip internal rotation stretches outlined above for knee pain will help greatly with most people’s back pain as they affect joint compression. 

 There are very few good, safe stretches that target the actual back muscles. An opposite foot reach from a V-stretch position is perhaps the most accessible.

 Alongside that, the rib cage & stomach stretches below under the shoulder exercises will also benefit the back.

 Agitations – Your sitting position is a huge cause of keeping you stuck with back pain so investigate which chairs or sitting postures help or hinder your rehab.

The majority of shoulder pain is impingement caused by the joint being held out of place. This is directly related to rib cage flexibility and stiffness which could be on the front, side or back of the upper body.

Stretches – When the stomach and front line of the body are stiff it causes compression in the shoulder joint limiting motion and causing pain. Doing a stomach stretch can relieve this pressure, this stretch is often mistaken for the prone cobra from yoga, which is wrong, you are trying to do the Sphynx stretch, where you keep your stomach on the ground. This targets abdominal stiffness.

The basis of rib cage stretches is to use gravity to assist in the stretch process. The actual stretch comes from taking a full 360′ breath. This underling movement means you expand your ribs in every direction when you breathe in, e.g. out to the side, forwards backwards and upwards, all at the same time. You will probably find you are too stiff to get almost any movement. The different positions below use gravity to help you expand different areas of the ribs, but for this to happen you must focus on breathing in an expansive way.

Agitations – Your sleeping position is almost always involved in keeping a shoulder irritation stuck, either directly through putting pressure on the joint or by affecting your neck position. Alternatively, your sleeping posture is compressing the rib cage, which exacerbates the rib cage tightness issue and subsequent shoulder issue.

What This Means For You 

If you have any of the above pains, or know someone who does, then look to do the stretches outlined. A central theme to all of the above advice is loosening the front side of the body (thighs, stomach etc). This is because it is tight from most of us spending all day sitting down. 

To get the best results from the above you should listen to what the body says back to you. If the stretch is helping, it should immediately feel better / or you have more range of movement before the pain hits. Look to see how long it lasts, for example, if every morning you are back to square one then you are most likely aggravating it during sleep.

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