How to Keep Your Knees Healthy

By Linda Melone, CSCS, Special to Lifescript
Published April 23, 2011
Reviewed By Edward C. Geehr, M.D.
Healthy knees are important to your well-being, but painful injuries like “runner’s knee,” ACL tears and tendonitis are all too common. In fact, women are more likely than men to suffer serious knee trouble. Read how the knee works, what can go wrong and how to prevent getting hurt. Plus, learn how to strengthen leg muscles and reduce pain with a knee workout...

Although they’re the largest joints in the body, your knees are also among the most vulnerable to injury. And women face a higher risk, especially if they’re active.
But if you take precautions, you can reduce the likelihood of painful or even debilitating damage.

“Knee injuries generally fall into two categories: macro traumas and overuse injuries,” says John Hurley, M.D., an orthopedic surgeon at Summit Medical Group in Morristown, N.J.

Macro trauma includes tearing of a tendon or cartilage, usually the result of turning and twisting during running or sports. A tear can also occur when you stop short with feet planted in one direction and the knee forced into a different direction.

An overuse injury, on the other hand, often occurs from asking too much of your knees without enough rest.

And while they’re not completely preventable, both kinds of injury can usually be avoided with proper care.

Anatomy of a Knee
To understand how these problems happen, it’s helpful to know what makes your knees work.

Ligaments are stabilizers that hold your knee together. Two on each side prevent it from moving side to side. One on the inside and outside prevent it from collapsing in either direction.

A wrong step or sideways collision can easily result in a strain or tear. Women are two to eight times more likely to experience a tear of the ACL (anterior cruciate ligament – one of the knee’s stabilizing ligaments) than men.