Knee pain is incredibly common, especially as we age. In fact, about 5 percent of primary care visits are because of knee pain.
Protecting your knees is crucial. It’s understandable to see numbers like that and think that keeping your knees safe means not exercising them — however, orthopedic doctors emphasize it’s crucial to incorporate movements like lunges into your weekly routine to support knee health.
“Most people assume the knee is fragile, but the truth is it actually thrives when you move it regularly and with purpose,” says Dr. Gbolahan Okubadejo, a New York City-based spinal and orthopedic surgeon. “The cartilage in your knee doesn’t have its own blood supply, so it relies on the compression and release of movement to absorb nutrients and stay healthy.”
Okubadejo is used to working with patients with knee braces, but he says strong knee muscles act as a natural brace that absorbs shock, “so the joint itself doesn’t have to take the full beating.”
“Sitting for long periods and avoiding activity actually accelerates knee degeneration far more than moderate exercise ever would,” he says. “Building a consistent movement habit keeps the joint lubricated, the surrounding tissue resilient and your knees functioning well into old age.”
While lunges may not be your favorite exercise, your knees are sure to get a sense of delayed gratification when you do them.
“Lunges directly exercise the hamstrings, quadriceps and gluteal muscles,” says Dr. Luke Garbarino, an orthopedic surgeon specializing in hip and knee replacement surgery at Northwell Health. “The abdominal muscles, hip abductors and calf muscles are also involved in stabilizing the body during lunges, so they are exercised as well.”
One lunge, one time won’t cut it — but you probably know that. Making a habit of doing lunges each week can go a long way in supporting your knees. To help you find the right cadence, orthopedic doctors shared exactly how many lunges to do weekly to support knee health.
Consistency is key
“Hitting lunges two to three times a week with a rest day in between is a solid goal,” Okubadejo says. “Starting with three sets of 10 per leg gives you a solid foundation without overdoing it. Consistency is what actually moves the needle here.”
That being said, he shares that there’s no agreed-upon “perfect” number of lunges to do each week for better knee health.
Garbarino agrees, explaining, “There’s no number of lunges to hit in a week. However, people should aim for daily exercise to support general health, and lunges can be a component of that.”
Dr. David Shau, an assistant professor at the Burnett School of Medicine at TCU, also said the number can vary and isn’t just based on your current fitness level.
“The right dose is the highest amount your knee tolerates without swelling, instability or next-day flare,” he says.
Shau suggests:
■ Healthy individuals do two to three sets of eight to 10 reps of lunges on each leg twice per week, using body weight to start (32 to 60 lunges per leg per week)
■ People with known knee arthritis do one to two sets of six to eight lunges (each leg) once or twice per week (six to 16 lunges per leg per week). He says doing shallower or reverse lunges at first works well for people with knee arthritis.
■ Recovered knee replacement patients wait to get the doctor’s approval before proceeding to one to two sets of sox to eight reps per leg once per week. Be sure to talk to your care team about modifications, such as starting with a split squat.
Garbarino adds that sometimes the best number of lunges to do weekly to support your knee health is … none.
“If someone is returning from injury, particularly hamstring or quadriceps injuries, then they may want to wait on lunges,” he says. “These exercises can reaggravate an injury that is not yet ready to return to exercise. Therefore, patients should wait until approved by their physician.”
Why lunges work
Okubadejo is a big fan of lunges because they are a more complete lower-body exercise, hitting numerous muscle groups rather than isolating one.
“The quadriceps, which run along the front of the thigh, take on a significant load during the descent and are directly responsible for stabilizing the kneecap as it tracks through movement,” he explains. “The glutes and hamstrings work together to control how your hip and knee align, which matters enormously because poor alignment is one of the leading causes of knee pain and injury.”
OK, but what does that mean for the knees?
“When these muscles are weak or imbalanced, the knee compensates by absorbing stress it was never designed to handle alone,” Okubadejo says.
How to do a lunge
To perform a traditional or reverse lunge, Shau says to:
■ Stand tall, with your feet hip-width apart.
■ Engage your core.
■ Step forward or backward.
■ Lower straight down under control.
■ Keep the front knee tracking over the second or third toe.
■ Keep pressure through the heel and midfoot.
■ Push through the front leg to return.
You’ll also want to avoid certain mistakes when doing lunges to avoid injuring the knee or other body parts (or just getting nothing out of them).
Okubadejo says common lunge mistakes to avoid include:
■ Letting your front knee cave inward. The key here is to ensure it tracks straight over your toes the entire time, Okubadejo says.
■ Leaning your torso too far forward. “Your chest should stay upright, not hunched over your front leg,” Okubadejo says.
■ Having a “short step.” “If your stride is too narrow, your knee shoots past your toes and puts a ton of pressure on the joint,” Okubadejo explains.
■ Dropping your back knee too fast. Use slow, controlled movements as you lower your knee. “Slamming it down is how you bruise it and lose all the muscle work,” Okubadejo warns.
Five more moves
Lunges aren’t the only knee-supporting moves you can incorporate in your workout routine. Orthopedic doctors shared five more.
Leg extensions
To perform a leg extension:
■ Sit straight up in a chair.
■ Slowly extend the knee and straighten the leg until the knee is fully extended.
■ Hold this position and flex the knee to 90 degrees.
■ Repeat on the opposite leg. (Garbarino suggests 10 reps on each side.)
Garbarino says people can progress to using ankle weights as their legs get stronger.
Squats
To perform squats:
■ Stand up straight with your feet shoulder-width apart. (Garbarino notes that you can place your back on a wall if you need a balance booster.)
■ Keeping the back straight and the torso upright, bend at the knees and hold position.
■ Stand up straight again.
Sit-to-stand
Shau describes this move as foundational, simple and effective. To do a sit-to-stand:
■ Lean slightly forward from a chair.
■ Drive through the heels to stand.
■ Lower back down to the chair using control.
Step-ups
Shau likes that this move targets single-leg control and helps people build confidence to climb stairs with ease. To do a step-up:
■ Get a low step.
■ Put your foot on the step.
■ Drive up through that leg.
■ Lower slowly.
Clamshells
■ Lie on your side with your knees bent and stacked.
■ Keep your feet together and rotate your top knee open like a clamshell.
■ Hold for a second at the top.
■ Lower slowly and repeat.
