Knee pain is a plague in the hiking community. Hiking can place a lot of stress on the knee joint, so it’s rare to find someone who hasn’t dealt with knee pain. Research studies have shown that hiking downhill can place up to six times the amount of force on the knee joint when compared to level walking (1), so it makes sense that spending hours hiking downhill from a summit can leave you with banged up knees.

Hiking is supposed to be a fun enjoyable experience. You shouldn’t have to miss out on a hike or have it be unbearable because your suffering from knee pain, so we’re gonna go over four of my favorite exercises for building stronger knees so you don’t have to worry about knee pain when you’re hiking.

Note: I want to state that none of this should be taken as medical advice, or treatment. This is simply workout advice for my fellow hikers dealing with knee pain. If you are experiencing severe chronic pain in the knee joint, then I recommend seeing a doctor.

Wall Sits

The wall sit is a great exercise when you’re dealing with knee pain because it’s a beginner level isometric exercise (the muscle contracts, but there’s no movement in the joint). Isometrics are great exercises when you’re dealing with tendonosis because you place tension on the muscles and tendons in the knee with little to no pain.

I start my lower body workouts with wall sit because isometrics have been shown to reduce knee pain for upwards of 45 minutes (2), so it’s the perfect exercise to include in your warm-up.

If you want to see progress the exercise must be challenging. Start by doing four sets of 30 seconds every other day. When that gets easy you can progress to 45 seconds, and eventually to a weighted wall sit (light weight) or a single leg wall sit.

Tempo Box Squats

The tempo box squat is a great exercise to add more load to the tendons in the knee, while reducing the stress placed on the knee.

It’s important to do the motion slow and pause between the up and downwards phases of the exercise. This will reduce the spring like loading and unloading of the tendons in the knee, making box squats more tolerable than normal squats.

You can do the exercise with a dumbbell, kettlebell, or a barbell just make sure the weight is heavy enough to load the knee joint, but not too heavy where you could cause further damage. You’re starting weight should be around 50% of your one rep max, and you want to aim for 12 to 15 repetitions.

Touchdowns

Touchdowns are hands down my favorite lower body exercise for hikers. It can be easily modified, it works on balance, it works on knee stability, it’s great for building single leg strength, and you don’t need gym equipment.

Make sure to perform the exercise as slow as possible. You want to lower yourself down and lightly touch your foot on the ground and then press yourself back up into the starting position. It’s important to maintain proper knee alignment throughout the entire exercise, so make sure your knees are going the same direction as your toes.

Lateral Band Kicks

The lateral band kick is a “more bang for your buck” exercise. You simultaneously strengthen the glute medius (knee stabilizer) of the working leg, while improving ankle strength and balance of the down leg. It’s an easy exercise to include in a super-set, at the end of your workout, or as a part of your warm-up.

Final Thoughts

Knee pain and what causes it can be different for everybody, so it’s good to take a slow and safe approach when it comes to exercising and trying a variety of knee safe lower body exercises. If your knee hurts when doing an exercise or makes your pain worse, then maybe you need to avoid that exercise or scale back the intensity. Rehabilitating an injury is a slow process, so you need to be patient.

1. Schwameder, Hermann & Roithner, Robin & Burgstaller, Rainer & Müller, Erich. (2001). Knee joint forces in uphill, downhill and level walking. 45-46.

2. Rio E, Kidgell D, Purdam C, et al. Isometric exercise induces analgesia and reduces inhibition in patellar tendinopathy. Br J Sports Med. 2015;49:1277-1283