Squatting is Bad for Your Knees, Right??

We’ve heard this question/proclamation many times from former patients - “Isn’t squatting bad for my knees?” And it’s certainly no wonder why people have thought this. Maybe they’ve been told this by an old school medical professional. Or their cousin or daughter. Or maybe they’ve just realized that anytime they get up and down from the toilet their knees hurt them, therefore they think “why in the world would I wanna squat anymore than I already have to?!”.

Here is the reality - squatting is one of the most fundamental and basic of human movements. We all do it many, if not dozens of times per day. It was a precursor to walking when we were an infant. It happens when we get into/out of a chair, go to the bathroom, and get out of a car. And yet, for some of us, it’s a painful reminder of something that isn’t quite right.

The above is precisely why YOU NEED TO SQUAT. If it’s painful, we first need to investigate why. But once we understand the root cause of why the pain is there, the strategy we’d employ is figuring out how to squat pain free, not to avoid squatting.

Check out the video of some PT nerds discussing how critical it is to squat, as well as some of the MANY health benefits of squatting and other resistance training exercises. There is almost always a work around to assure that you’ll be able to squat, PAIN FREE!