Approximately 200,000 people experience a torn ACL each year. Most of these injuries occur during sports with a lot of lunging, jumping, and pivoting, like soccer, tennis, and basketball. They’re also especially common in young athletes and women, who are three to six times more likely to experience a tear than men.
Why do lunges hurt my knees so much?
Not creating a 90-degree angle at the knee. I often find that my clients take too narrow of a step forward so there’s not enough space for their knee to bend properly to the 90-degree angle. This also makes balancing hard and can even lead to knee injury.
Why are lunges hurting my knees?
Limited ankle range of motion can prevent the athlete from performing the exercise appropriately, especially at the bottom of the lunge. This can cause excessive force at the knee as it has to “pick up the slack” for limited ankle mobility. All of which can lead to discomfort and pain during the lunge.
Are forward lunges bad for the knees?
A closed chain exercise is one where the working limb is in contact with the floor or other fixed object. Those are the reasons why forward lunges may actually be contributing to the pain, whereas a reverse lunge may let you finish your leg workout and fix your knee pain in the process.
Is it better to lunge forward or backward?
The reverse lunge works the stable leg, whereas the forward lunge works the leg that is stepping forward. This makes the reverse lunge much more stable. With more stability, it is easier to progress and add dumbbells or other forms of resistance to further strengthen your legs.
