TrainersEye · Knee Health
Knee Rehab · 30 Sessions

Thirty sessions.
Twelve minutes each.
A knee that carries you.

Five phases, 180 different movements, no repeats — from isometric holds on a painful knee to hop testing on a strong one. At home, with a chair, a wall, a step, a towel and a backpack or two water jugs.

Before you start

See a doctor first — do not start — with a hot, red or swollen knee with fever; a knee that locks and will not straighten; sudden severe swelling within an hour of an injury; inability to bear weight after trauma; or calf pain, redness and swelling.

The pain rule: up to 5/10 during, back to your normal by the next morning, and no worse week to week. That is the published pain-monitoring model — training into tolerable pain beats avoiding it.

Swelling is the referee. A knee that swells after a session did too much. Drop one level and repeat it.

Progression: every movement has an easier and a harder version. Two clean sessions on a level earn the next.

Kit: a chair, a wall, a step, a towel or strap and a loaded backpack or two water jugs.

Phase 1Calm and load

ACalm the knee. Wake the quad. Start the pump.Six gentle movements that restore the bend, switch the quadriceps back on and move fluid through the joint. No standing load, no pain. BRange first. Then tension. Then the day.Assisted bending, the inner-range quad and the short-arc quad — the three drills that rebuild the last thirty degrees. CHold it. Breathe. The knee settles.Isometric day: tension without movement is the calmest way to load a painful knee — and it quietens the pain afterwards. DStand up. Sit down. Twenty times.The first weight-bearing session: the Spanish squat holds the shin back while the quad works, and the chair teaches the pattern. EStraighten it. Fully. Every time.The last few degrees of straightening change how you walk — today we take them back, and load them. FSix sessions in. The knee bends and holds.Phase 1 check-in: range, isometric strength and the first honest single-leg work.

Phase 2Quadriceps and control

GBuild the shock absorber.Phase 2 opens: the quadriceps takes real load through real range, and every rep is lowered under control. HKnee over the second toe. Every rep.Tracking day: the knee learns to stay over the middle of the foot under load, in three different positions. IDown is harder than up.Eccentric day: lowering strength is lost first after a knee problem and it is what stairs, hills and kerbs demand. JTwo legs hide it. One leg shows it.The weaker leg gets found and trained: split squats, single-leg hinging and balance under movement. KSit deeper. Stand stronger. Trust the bend.Depth day: the knee is built to bend, and today it earns a few more degrees under control. LTwelve in. The stairs feel different.Phase 2 check-in: a full step-up, a loaded squat, a real wall sit and the first single-leg sit-to-stand.

Phase 3Hip, calf and foot

MThe knee pays for the hip above it.Phase 3 opens at the joint above: hip abductors and rotators stop the knee falling inwards on every step. NThe knee pays for the ankle below it.The joint below: a stiff ankle forces the knee and hip to make up the difference on every squat and stair. OLevel pelvis. Quiet foot. Happy knee.Everything on one leg: the hip holds the pelvis, the foot holds the floor, and the knee stops doing both jobs. PLong hamstrings. Strong hamstrings. Safer knee.The hamstrings pull the shin back and share the load with the ligaments — today they get length and strength. QTurn. Step. Stay in control.Rotation and direction change — slowly and deliberately, so the knee learns to turn without collapsing. REighteen in. Above, below and through.Phase 3 check-in: the hip, the calf and the knee working as one chain, on one leg, under load.

Phase 4Strength and tolerance

SLoad it. Slowly. Heavily.Phase 4 opens: heavy slow resistance — the loading pattern with the best evidence for painful knees and tendons. TOwn the depth you were afraid of.Range under load: the deepest squatting in the programme, built from the ankle and the hip, not forced at the knee. UCarry it. Climb it. Come down slowly.Real-world load: bags, stairs and a knee that can lower a body weight under control. VHold longer. Push harder. Finish stronger.Endurance and isometric strength: the qualities that decide whether the knee is still fine at hour six of a long day. WStrong at the angle where it hurt.Targeted loading: the ranges most knees avoid, trained deliberately and in small steps. XTwenty-four in. Loaded, deep and quiet.Phase 4 check-in: the hardest strength session — full depth, real load, both legs honest.

Phase 5Return to life

YLearn to land before you learn to jump.Phase 5 opens with the landing, not the jump: hip, knee and ankle absorbing together, quietly. ZTwo feet leave the floor. Both come back.The first real jumping — small, symmetrical, and every landing judged on how quiet it is. AAOne leg. Off the floor. And back.Single-leg hopping is the test that decides readiness for sport — introduced here small, quiet and symmetrical. ABChange direction. Decelerate. Stay over the toes.Cutting and stopping — the moments knees are hurt in — trained slowly first, then at speed. ACRun. Climb. Get off the floor.The skills a knee is actually for: running mechanics, stairs at speed, and getting up from the ground. ADThirty sessions. A knee that does its job.Graduation: the hop test, the step-down test and the sit-to-stand test — your numbers, both legs, side by side.