Squat will not hurt the knee squat can exercise the knee?

Many people in the gym have heard that deep squats can cause damage to the knees, but is this correct? It's not right to just look at the dramatic impact of the exercise without considering the long-term benefits of the exercise on the peripheral muscles of the knee, so let's understand the correlation between the knee and the squat.

Understanding the knee joint and peripheral muscle groups

Let's start with a brief look at the knee joint, which is located primarily between the thigh and calf, somewhat like a hinged joint that can bend and lock into full extension, and is made up of seven different types of tissue combined. 1. Bones: The bones that form the structure of the knee joint are the femur, patella and tibia. 2. Ligaments: The fibrous connective tissue that links the bones to each other and provides stability and integrity to the joint, the knee ligaments are divided into eight internal and six internal. Muscles: There is no muscle tissue in the knee joint itself, and the muscles that act on the knee joint are on the outer periphery of the knee. They are the quadriceps muscles that link the front of the thigh, the biceps and hamstrings on the back of the thigh, and some muscles that assist in bending or rotating the joint inward. 4. Tendons: The fibrous bands that connect the muscles to the bone attachments. The four extensor muscles of the knee form a common tendon, the common quadriceps tendon, which connects the femur to the tibia. 5. Synovial bursa: a sac-like structure near the area of friction, mainly used to slow down the friction between the bone surface and the bone surface. 6. Adipose tissue: a specialized connective tissue composed of fat cells used for filling. 7. Articular cartilage: Since the upper tibia is flat and the femoral condyles are rounded, there is cartilage on the upper left and right with a meniscus that absorbs the pressure of joint movement.

Stability studies of the knee joint

Science has actually shown that deep squats can have a protective effect on the knee joint by increasing muscle stability. Researchers have compared the stability of the knee between weightlifters, basketball players and runners, and after training in the movements of the deep squat, the weightlifters' knees were actually more stable than basketball players (who had just practiced for more than an hour) and runners (who ran 10 km), and studies in many areas have shown that In fact, the deep squat is a safe exercise program.

Wear and tear on joints from deep squats

When we squat, the knee produces both shear and compression forces, so theoretically, most injuries to the knee from deep squats are caused by excessive compression forces. There is little evidence that knee cartilage wear is caused by this when performing long-term squat weight training movements. In fact, people who are involved in weightlifting have relatively healthy knees compared to you and me.

What is the stress on the knee from the squat angle

According to this chart, anterior shear is up to 0-60 degrees (compression of the ACL), while posterior shear begins at about 50 degrees of knee flexion and reaches a maximum at 90 degrees (maximum stress on the posterior cruciate ligament). Compression forces appear to be much higher in the deeper squat, maxing out at about 90-130 degrees. This is due in part to the surface area contact between the femur and patella, but also to the fact that the tension changes from quadrilateral to angular as we descend further into the squat. One can look at this graph of knee flexion and see that as we go through the squat, the different surfaces of the femur and patella are stressed throughout the movement, initially in the squat (0-10 degrees of knee flexion) the patella is not in contact with the femur. As you move into 10-20 degrees of knee flexion, you begin to contact the femur with the patella. Initially, the surface area of contact between the femur and patella is small. As we descend into a squat and maximize at 90 degrees, the surface area of bone contact increases, and after 90 degrees of flexion, the surface area of bone contact decreases.

Causes of deep squat knee injuries

Practicing the full squat stroke is actually a very good range of motion for the knee, and why is squatting at halfway down the range of motion bad for the knee? The first thing we need to look at is that the muscles surrounding the knee keep the knee stable. When you are doing a half squat, you are also doing a lot of exercise on the quadriceps (thigh muscle group), which pull the knee from the front, but a half squat largely ignores the hamstrings and gluteal muscles (muscle group in the back of the leg) that pull the knee from the back, and this can lead to knee problems due to the resulting imbalance and instability. So, when you perform a full squat, not only is it effective for the quads outside, but the glutes and biceps are able to provide a more balanced pull on the knee, therefore bringing greater stability to the overall. Another reason many people think squats are bad for the knees is that they don't take the time to learn proper movement and posture, but still add too much weight and then injure themselves, eventually blaming the squat for such injuries, not knowing that the real reason for their injuries is again in the wrong posture and habits.