You may have seen quite a lot published recently about the benefits of strengthening the thigh muscles. According to research, stronger quadriceps (that is, the collection of muscles that make up the main bulk of the thigh) may help reduce the risk of needing a knee replacement. But why might that be? And does the evidence stack up? Alex Dodds, knee consultant for Cheltenham, Gloucester and the Cotswolds, explains.
*photo courtesy of Giorgio Rossi via shutterstock
It’s certainly true that building the muscles around the knee is never a bad idea. Strong muscles can help support a well-functioning knee joint. They can take some of the strain off the joint and help the patella (kneecap) track correctly along the groove in which it sits.
But can stronger thigh muscles actually reduce your chances of needing a knee replacement?
Thigh muscles and knee replacement
Building up the thigh muscles can guard against the symptoms of osteoarthritis. In particular, patients with anterior knee pain (that is, where the area around the kneecap has started wearing) can find that building muscle strength reduces pain and can delay the need for replacement.
After a knee replacement it’s equally important to have strong muscles to ensure a good degree of control around the joint.
Effectively, there’s never a reason not to build that thigh muscle strength.
I do think we need to manage expectations a little, though. Strong thigh muscles can reduce the pain of osteoarthritis, but they can’t ‘cure’ it — nothing can. Advanced osteoarthritis may still eventually need to be resolved with a knee replacement. Strengthening the thigh muscles, however, can be an effective way of kicking that particular can down the road.
> Discover more about knee osteoarthritis
How to strengthen the thigh muscles
I often talk to patients about strengthening the thigh muscles and the most frequent response is “well, I do a lot of walking.” Walking is good for many things, but it’s not going to strengthen the thigh muscles significantly.
So it’s important to work on muscle strength. Although physiotherapists are an obvious resource for this, they’re attached to medical teams and it’s not always easy to book appointments with them. As an alternative, therefore, I recommend seeing a good strength and conditioning coach — the sort of person you’ll find in any good gym — as they’ll know how to work the muscles around the knee.
How not to strengthen the thigh muscles
Whoever you turn to for help and however you go about it, the one thing to avoid is high impact activity such as running. Swimming is good. Cycling is fine. But running and other high impact activities can cause further damage to an osteoarthritic knee joint and damage a knee implant post-knee replacement.
Find out more
I’m a member of the British Orthopaedic Association Orthopaedic Committee that’s recently been involved in writing guidance on this and we’ve looked at a lot of the evidence in support of building up the thigh muscles.So if you’re suffering from knee pain, book your appointment at my Cheltenham hip and knee clinic. Or call 01242 246549.
> Discover more about knee osteoarthritis
> Discover more about knee replacements
> Discover more about partial & total knee replacements