Q: I was doing squats in the gym 2 months back. During that, I felt a clicking sound in my knee along with some pain. After a couple of days, I started feeling acute pain in my knee while running and climbing stairs. I went to the doctor who took x-rays and told me that my knee joint is perfect and its a ligament problem. He advised me to stop going to the gym and take rest for 2 months. I rested for two months and after that I started jogging again, but still felt the pain and some swelling around knee. I am not taking any medicines. What should be done in such a case?

A:What you need to do is to modify your exercises. Firstly, if you have a knee problem that is recurring, do not jog nor cycle, for it is only going to aggravate it and it will be disadvantageous than accruing the benefits of exercise. Go for a brisk walk so that the pounding on your knee joint lessens and the impact of jogging does not cause any more harm. If you would like to make it more challenging, you can even add uphill walking on a treadmill (if you do not have a hill!) For targeting the gluteal muscles, hamstrings and quadriceps (which get covered in squats) you could do lunges, which might be kinder on the knees or isolation exercises for each muscle group. Also keep in mind that, as you are executing the exercise, do not do it with sudden jerky movement but rather smooth and easy movements, which are easy on the joints. Do not take on too heavy weights but rather more repetitions but again not more than 12 for each set. What also helps is to stretch the muscles out before and after you finish your workout.