There was an interesting write up in Horse and Hound last week about the increasing incidence of Knee Surgery in Riders. It was written by a surgeon who said Riders need to acknowledge problems early on and get them dealt with by a specialist rather than ignoring it and just carrying on. Very wise words as I know we Equestrians are a tough bunch and despite calling the Vet over the slightest worry with our horse, the same does not go for ourselves. We will just put up with pain and carry on hoping it will go away!

Firstly, if you do have a problem it really is best to just go and get it seen by a professional. From personal experience I find Sports Physiotherapists (or indeed one that is an equestrian) much happier to help you get back in the saddle pain free than others who can be a little wary.*Not all I’m sure there are loads of great physios out there I’m going from personal experience and I have seen a lot of physios in my time! Mine works at Harris and Ross if you are in need of one and you are in the North West-Just tell Dave I sent you!

Anyway, there are also things we can do to prevent ever having a knee problem at all. And the secret is………………….strong legs! You see there are lots of big muscles in your legs, unfortunately as we become more accustomed to riding we can get a little lazy with the muscles we are using and well in a nutshell not really use all of them! If you saw last week’s blog……..I took you through a Sports Yoga circuit that will help will full body strength so that’s a great place to start, but this week I want to be a little more specific.

With that in mind I think we should do a couple of exercises to target the two big muscle groups in our legs. The Quads at the front and the Hamstrings at the back.

Wall Squat & Squat Hold.

 

Hamstring Curl On Ball

Bulgarian Split Squat