Our joints naturally go through wear and tear as we age – and the knees are often the first to feel the strain for many people over 50.
As such, maintaining strong, pain-free knees is essential for staying mobile and independent, whether it’s due to past injuries, arthritis or simply decades of daily use.
So, here are eight practical and expert-backed tips to help support knee health into your 50s and beyond…
1. Maintain a healthy weight
“The top tip that no one wants to hear is that you have to make sure that you are of normal weight,” says Neil Bradbury, orthopaedic surgeon and knee specialist at Sulis Hospital in Bath.
“The whole of the body is designed to take a certain amount of weight and if you carry more weight, you wear out your joints more quickly.
“It’s like filling a car up with very, very heavy things and driving it around, eventually it will wear the tyres out.”
2. Stay active
“It’s important to remember that the knee is part of the body, and the body needs to be looked after,” says Bradbury. “So, everybody needs to do enough exercise every week to keep themselves healthy. Cycling or swimming are particularly good.”
3. Adapt the type of exercise you are doing
“As we age, the type of exercise we do may have to change,” reflects Bradbury. “If we’re talking about someone who is over 50 and has normal knees, then provided they’re of a normal weight, they can pretty much do anything they want.
“However, if someone has slightly sore knees and are a runner, one of the things I’ve frequently said is, well maybe you should think about doing something less weight-bearing, like cross training, cycling or swimming.
“Also, in the gym, there are certain things that are more likely to annoy your knees. For example, if you’ve got kneecap trouble the stepper machine is more likely to annoy your knee than, for example, a bicycle or rowing machine.”
4. Strengthen your muscles
“One of the most important things that people can do as they age is to retain strength, because the muscles help support the joint,” says Bradbury. “So, strength training and weight training are good for this. That doesn’t mean going to a gym and lifting huge weights, but just doing some simple exercises that keep your knees strong in terms of your muscular power is good.”
5. Wear suitable footwear
“Ensure that you have comfortable footwear that fits well,” stresses Matt Harrison, first contact physiotherapy lead at Homerton Healthcare Trust. “Your footwear provides that foundation to provide support for your knee that sits above.”
It’s also crucial to ensure you’re wearing the right shoes when you exercise.
“If you’re a runner, change your shoes regularly and make sure that you don’t lose the sponginess from the shoes,” says Bradbury. “If you’re doing a lot of miles, every six months or so you need to get your shoes changed.
“Go somewhere where they are able to analyse your running style so that you have shoes that are specific for you and take into account the alignment of your feet.”
6. Do regular knee exercises
“Typically using the knee through its range of movements (bending and straightening, leg raises, calf raises etc) and load-based exercises (where you do these exercises and gradually add weight) can help to strengthen the knee,” recommends Harrison. “Squatting-based exercises like standing and sitting from a chair, or gym-based squats are also very good.”
7. Listen to your body and build up intensity slowly
“It’s about gradually building up anything that you do slowly,” says Harrison. “Either work on intensity of exercise (gradually increasing the weight that is being used) or the volume (how long you do an activity for).
“Tasks like ascending and descending stairs are so important within our lives, so it’s important to keep active with these and you can do this at home. But remember, it is also OK to rest while doing these tasks. Listen to your body and build up slowly based on your health and previous exercise experience.”
8. Seek specialist advice
“Is it painful? Is it swelling? Are there mechanical problems? Whatever it is that you are worried about, seek professional advice,” recommends Bradbury. “See a knee specialist, because that’s what we do.
“Knee specialists offer a huge variety of treatments, from just talking to the patient and explaining the situation to them, all the way up through to major surgery. We also talk through things like injection therapy and advice about exercise.”
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