If You Suffer From Foot, Knee, or Hip Pain, Here Are 6 Exercises to Kill It

Between 15% and 25% of people in the US suffer from knee pain, which is the second largest cause of chronic pain. But even without it, we all suffer from minor injuries and tiredness from time to time. Here are some tips on how to use physical therapy to possibly make you feel better.

Bright Side is always on guard with helping you stay healthy and pain-free. That’s why we want you to check out these six simple exercises to help you with knee, foot and hip pain.

Heel raises

To start off, grab a chair and stand behind it.

• Raise one of your legs.
• Slowly raise the heel of your other leg until you’re standing on your toes.
• Slowly put the heel back on the floor.
• Repeat this exercise 10-15 times on each leg.

This will strengthen your ankles and work on the muscles around the knee.

Toe walking

This is a simple exercise that you can do while maintaining your house or doing your other chores. Simply walk around on your toes at a fast pace — this will strengthen your calves and give a small workout to your toes and the balls of your feet.

Keep walking for 5 to 15 minutes or until tired.

Ankle сircles

To work on weak ankles you should do the following:

• Sitting down or standing up, raise one leg.
• Slowly rotate the foot of that leg in a circular motion.
• Repeat this 10 times in an inward circle and 10 times in outward circles for each leg.

Resistance training

For this next exercise, you’ll need a resistance band.

• Fix the band around the couch leg or any other standing piece of furniture.
• Put one of your legs under the other, slightly bent at the knee.
• Grab onto a resistance band with the foot of the leg on top.
• Slowly pull the band, bending your foot toward your head.
• Repeat this 10-15 times on each leg.

This incorporates the work of calf muscles and your inner and outer thigh muscles.

Toe games

To exercise your toes on a daily basis you can play a game called “grabbies”.

• Curl your toes on their own.
• Put a towel on the floor and grab onto it with your toes.
• Put small pebbles on the ground and try to put them in a basket using just your feet.

Walking on balls

To relax and train the balls of your feet:

• Find a tennis ball or a ball of a similar diameter.
• Sit on a chair.
• Place your foot on the ball and step on it.
• Slowly push the ball with your foot toward the toes and then backward.
• Enjoy the massage!

Bonus:

Acupressure and foot massage are widely used around the world.

If after a long day you have sore feet, place your two thumbs on the spots in the picture (between toes 1 and 2, 4 and 5; about 1 cm or half an inch deep) and gently massage it for up to 15 minutes for easy and quick relaxation.

We hope you’ll give these exercise a try to stay healthy and pain-free. What are your tricks to help you relax your feet after a long day? Share in the comments!

Illustrated by Natalia Tylosova for BrightSide.me