Straight Leg Raise

The Straight Leg Raise Exercise aims to build the strength in the muscles on the front of your thigh, the quadriceps.

Begin by lying on your back with one leg straight ahead of you and your other leg bent with your foot flat on the floor.

Start by contracting your quads muscle. Then whilst keeping your leg completely straight, raise it off the floor to roughly six inches. You then need to slowly lower the leg back down to the start position.

Make sure when you are doing the movement that there is no bend in the knee, as this will not work the quadriceps muscles as much.

You can hold the position at the top of the movement or simply go up and down in a controlled manner.

Aim to complete the reps and sets as suggested in your rehab programme.

If you find this exercise too difficult or that you can’t perform it without your knee bending, you may find the Static Quads or Inner Range Quads Exercises more suitable.

Equally, if this exercise is too easy, you may want to use an ankle weight to make the exercise more challenging, or progress to the Seated Knee Extension Exercise.

We have all these exercises available on our YouTube Channel.