Straight leg raise exercise · Knee pain · St. Louis · Regen.MD physiotherapy
Straight leg raise exercise:
strength without bending the knee
The straight leg raise, done at home, builds thigh strength while a sore knee stays straight. Face up with the opposite knee bent, firm the thigh of the long leg and float it up level with the bent knee. Two seconds at the top, a slow descent, ten raises.
Only the exercises your physician has ticked on your home plan are yours to do. Twice daily is the rhythm unless the written plan says something different.
Step by step: straight leg raise exercise
- Starting position. Face up. Bend the opposite knee and plant that foot.
- The motion. Firm the thigh of the long leg first, then float it up to match the bent knee’s height. Lower it slowly.
- How much. Two seconds at the top, ten raises.
What the straight leg raise does for tissue repair
It loads the thigh while the knee joint itself stays still, so it fits early in a plan, including the gentler phase after a knee procedure once your physician allows it.
Fresh from an injection? Read this first
After a PRP or other orthobiologic injection in your knee, the treated tissue needs a protected stretch of days before it is asked to work. Your physician tells you when this exercise comes back. When it does, start with fewer repetitions and build to the full dose over the following visits. Loading in steps like this is how the repair signal from the injection turns into stronger tissue.
More on that: why load is the treatment an injection cannot supply.
Form errors we correct most often
- A knee that softens and bends on the way up.
- Overshooting the bent knee, or rushing.
- The low back peeling off the mat.
Signs that mean stop and phone us
Feeling the muscle work, a gentle pull, or some next-day stiffness is normal. Call us at (314) 295-3000 if you notice:
- Pain that turns sharp or stabbing
- A pain score that climbs 2 or more points and stays up longer than an hour
- New numbness, tingling or loss of strength
- Feeling dizzy, or your eyesight changing
Call 911, not the clinic, for chest pain, a hard time breathing or passing out.
Tracking what changes
Keep a short log: a check mark for each session and one pain score per day. Hand it over at each appointment; your technician tallies the sessions and has you perform one repetition so your form can be corrected. At each re-check you also repeat the same function questionnaire, and if your physician orders it, a Kinetisense 3D motion scan, so the change is measured instead of guessed.
What to remember
- Firm the thigh, then float.
- Stop level with the bent knee.
- Slow on the descent.
Show us you have it: Before you go, do one raise and pause at the top so we can check that your knee is straight. If a point is fuzzy, say so and we walk through it again with you.
The rest of the knee series
- Thigh squeeze (quad set): thigh switch-on
- Heel slide: knee bend
- Sit to stand: chair rise
Related reading: PRP knee injection in St. Louis, why knee pain comes back after therapy.
Where this fits: the Regen.MD physiotherapy program, physician-directed rehab paired with our regenerative care. A physician must be in the building and reachable within moments before any treatment begins.