Physical Therapy Knee Exercises

Here's the final list from my $1,800 physical therapy month. Courtesy of Josh Gerdes, PTA at Medical Hills Internists:

Crossovers. Begin with left foot in front of right. Jump up slightly, enough to spread legs while in the air, land with feet shoulder with apart. Jump again, land with right foot in front of left. Repeat in reverse order. Do as quickly as possible for a minute. 2 sets.

Jump lunges. Start in lunge position with left foot in front. Jump up and switch legs. Reverse. That's one rep. Do two sets of 20.

"Dot" leg hops. Picture the "5" side of a die, in front of you on the ground, if one side of the die were five feet in length. Stand at one end with feet spread, one on each dot. Jump forward and land with both feet on the middle dot. Jump forward again and land with feet spread on far set of dots. Jump up and spin mid-air, land facing back where you started, with feet spread on dots. Repeat to return to original position. Do as quickly as possible for a minute. 2 sets. VARIATION: Do it all on one leg. When you reach the far side, use your one leg to hop on each dot. Don't bother to do the mid-rep "spin."

Broad jump. Feet spread shoulder width. Leap forward as far as possible. About four leaps out, and four leaps to return. Do five of these sets in all.

Sidestep squats. Start with feet shoulder-width and knees slightly bent into a mild squat. Step sideways with left foot and as the foot lands, squat further down. Now bring the right foot along too, so as to end up in the mild squat. 20 reps.

Shin touches with hip hike. Balance on left leg, reach down and touch ankle, trying to keep back straight. Return to standing position while balancing on left, and bring right knee high into the air. 20 reps for each leg.

Low jumping jacks. Do about 5 regular jumping jacks, then lower the center of gravity so that legs are jumping out extra wide. Do two sets of a minute each.

Multi-dimensional run. Run in place for a while, then continue running but take a few steps in a random direction (forward, back, left, right), run in place a few seconds, return to center. Do two sets of a minute each.