Restoring Knee Mobility: How to Test and Improve Your Range of Motion

Name: 4 Exercises to Improve Knee Mobility
Uploaded: 2026-01-15T13:26:01.184285+00:00
Channel: Rehab Science
Description: Summary and key takeaways on Restoring Knee Mobility: How to Test and Improve Your Range of Motion, covering Introduction Knee mobility is essential for

Rehab Science

Jan 15, 2026

•

2 min read

YouTube video ID: u7W10eo0BIk

Source: YouTube video by Rehab Science — Watch original video

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Introduction

Knee mobility is essential for everyday movement and recovery after injury or prolonged immobilization.
This guide explains how to assess your knee’s range of motion and provides practical exercises to regain full mobility.

Knee Joint Anatomy

The knee is a condyloid joint, primarily allowing flexion and extension like a hinge.
Unlike many people realize, the knee also permits internal and external rotation of the tibia.

Assessing Flexion & Extension

Flexion
Target: 135–145° of bend.
Test: Perform a heel slide—slide your heel up until you feel tightness, not pain.
Stretch: Pull the heel upward, hold the stretch for 15–30 s, repeat 3–4 times a day.
Extension
Normal hyperextension: 5–10° beyond a straight knee.
Test: Place the heel on a book or yoga block and let gravity pull the knee into extension.
Stretch: If needed, add ankle weights or a heat pack to deepen the stretch; hold 5–10 min, repeat 3–5 times daily.

Assessing Internal & External Rotation

Sit with the knee bent to 90°.
Keep the heel on the floor and pivot the foot while keeping the ankle neutral.
Internal rotation: ~10° of tibial rotation.
External rotation: 30–40° of tibial rotation.
Use your hand or a small tool to gently mobilize the tibia into the desired rotation and hold the stretch for several minutes.

Mobility Exercises

Heel Slide – active flexion test and stretch.
Passive Extension with Block – gravity‑assisted stretch.
Rotational Pivot – seated internal/external rotation test.
Manual Mobilization – hand‑guided tibial rotation to increase ROM.

Practical Tips

Compare each side to the uninjured knee to set realistic goals.
Focus on tightness, not pain; a mild pulling sensation indicates a good stretch.
Consistency is key: perform each stretch 3–4 times per day for optimal results.
Use tools (block, weights, heat pack) only if they help deepen the stretch without causing discomfort.

Conclusion

Consistent, targeted stretching and gentle mobilization can restore knee range of motion after injury or prolonged immobilization, helping you return to normal activity with confidence.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Rehab Science on YouTube?

Rehab Science is a YouTube channel that publishes videos on a range of topics. Browse more summaries from this channel below.

Does this page include the full transcript of the video?

Yes, the full transcript for this video is available on this page. Click 'Show transcript' in the sidebar to read it.

Helpful resources related to this video

If you want to practice or explore the concepts discussed in the video, these commonly used tools may help.

Knee Mobility Exercise Guide Book Recommended

Provides structured exercises for knee range of motion.

Amazon →

Yoga Block For Knee Stretching

Used to assist passive extension stretches.

Amazon →

Ankle Weights For Knee Mobility Training

Adds resistance for strengthening and mobility.

Amazon →

Heat Pack For Knee Joint Warm-Up

Helps relax tissues before stretching.

Amazon →

Knee Brace For Post-Injury Support

Provides stability while regaining mobility.

Amazon →

Links may be affiliate links. We only include resources that are genuinely relevant to the topic.

Summarize another video

Full Transcript YouTube

what's going on everybody in today's
video we're looking at knee Mobility
ways to test your range of motion to
make sure you have full knee mobility
and then exercises you can Implement
maybe you've had a recent injury or you
had an injury in the past you're
wondering do I have my range of motion
back maybe you've been putting a brace
and immobilized you're trying to figure
out how to get that Mobility back if
those are things you're struggling with
stay tuned for today's video
[Music]
alright so our knee joint is kind of an
interesting joint it's technically
called a condyloid joint which means it
can go through flexion extension kind of
like a hinge joint our elbow is very
similar but what's interesting about the
knee and a fact that most people don't
know about is that it also can rotate so
the lower bone in our knee the tibia can
actually go through internal and
external rotation and those are
movements we want to check to optimize
knee Health First we'll start with the
sagittal plane flexion and extension
so with flexion what you want to look
for is the knee should be able to bend
to around 135 or 145 degrees basically
up like that
now it's going to vary from person to
person depending on the size of your
legs if you've got bigger smaller calf
muscles or hamstrings this is what stops
the movement are the soft tissues coming
together but if we look at the textbooks
most people will get somewhere between
135 and 145 degrees so what you want to
do is first check that if you have
limited range of motion then you want to
just work on improving that Mobility so
first what we have people do is just
actively this is called a heel slide but
just slide your heel up see how far you
can actively Bend and eventually you're
going to hit a stopping point where it's
hard to move any farther and then what I
have people do is just simply grab your
hands and pull up to a point where you
feel some tightness not pain but get to
a point where you feel some tightness
and then you just want to kind of hang
out here and let it stretch as long as
you can
joints respond better to Long stretches
so muscles we might do 15 to 30 seconds
a joint you could literally be here from
two to ten minutes so find that point
where it starts to stretch it's
tolerable there's not a lot of pain and
then just try to hold it and if you can
do that several times a day maybe three
to four times a day it will really help
improve Mobility more quickly so the
second sagittal plane movement is
extension which is just straightening
your knee most people have five to ten
degrees of hyperextension in the knee so
what you can which basically means if
your knee is flat on the ground and you
squeeze your muscles you could be able
to lift your heel up like that so not
everyone has this basically you're just
looking at can your knee get to zero
straight like this and maybe you check
your other side if your other side can
hyper extend that's probably where you
want to get back to so if you've had an
injury on one side and you can check the
other side how far does that one move
that's kind of your goal so I I can
actually get a bit of hyperextension
here say your other side could do that
and you can't over here you've lost some
extension a really easy way to stretch
this part of your joint is to just take
a book
or a yoga block something like that just
set it on the ground and put your heel
on it and then you're just going to let
gravity do the work for you so I'm just
gonna
let my leg drop down and gravity is just
going to pull that knee joint into
extension sometimes even this isn't
enough stretch and I have people put you
know like ankle weights up here on top
of their knee in the clinic sometimes
we'd even use a heavy heat pack so it
kind of warms it up and stretches it
again like the bending movement hang out
here you could be here for five to ten
minutes let that joint just slowly
stretch let that Mobility improve and
again you know sometimes we'll have
people do these things three to five
times throughout the day when they're
really trying to get their Mobility back
okay so that is our second movement knee
extension Okay so we've covered knee
flexion and extension which again are
our primary knee movements but now we
want to look at the transverse plane of
motion and internal and external
rotation so what you're going to do this
is you have to be in a sitting position
we need the knee to be around 90 degrees
of Bend to really work on internal
external rotation so you're going to sit
your knee bent like this and then what
you're going to do is look at I'm going
to keep my heel on the ground I'm going
to lift the top part of my foot and I'm
going to Pivot so I'm pivoting on my
heel now don't turn try not to turn your
ankle around try to keep your ankle in
sort of a straight forward neutral
position and then just rotate your heel
now what that's going to do is it's
going to cause this lower bone of my
knee the tibia to First this is external
rotation when my foot turns out and then
internal rotation is when my foot goes
in now in terms of range of motion
values for internal rotation we get less
movement it's about 10 degrees of tibial
internal rotation
and external rotation we get quite a bit
more than normals for that are 30 to 40
degrees again just compared to your
other side look at it if you haven't had
an injury on the other side you can kind
of look at and see okay what does that
side get that could kind of be a real a
loose goal and then go back to your side
that's a little stiff and turn it in you
can also use your hand again we usually
can't move as far with our muscles so
it's useful to use hands or a tool and I
can kind of take and spin my tibia into
intro notation and kind of mobilize it
and stretch it
okay and then with actual rotation the
same thing I can turn out as far as I
can and then I can use my hands to sort
of create more external rotation kind of
guide it and kind of hang out there and
stretch again these are joint stretches
so you can be here for several minutes
to really loosen up that joint tissue
okay
so those are our four movements we're
going to do for the knee we've got
flexion extension and then internal and
external rotation so give those a try if
you have any questions put them in the
comment section I'll get back to you all
right you guys see you in the next video
bye