Baggy Knees

Baggy Knees

A Lift-and-Shape Routine

Baggy panty hose are easily remedied: Pull them up or buy a new pair. Baggy knees are another matter. Who wants to walk around looking as though the skin around your knees is one size too big, saggy and wrinkled like an elephant instead of smooth and taut like a French dinner roll? Yet as years pass, the skin over your knees can start to look like it needs a face-lift.

Why does the skin sag?

Baggy knees are caused by the natural reduction of two supporting substances in the skin as you age--collagen and elastin, says Anita Cela, M.D., clinical assistant professor of dermatology at New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center in New York City.

WORK YOUR KNEES--GENTLY

Once your skin's natural elasticity starts to fade, there's no way skin can regain its ability to snap back into shape. Luckily, say women doctors, you can firm up the neighboring muscles--namely, the four quadriceps that form the front of your thigh--to tone the skin around the knees and improve their appearance.

"Exercise makes a big difference," says Dr. Cela. Here's how to get started.

Do shallow knee bends. Use squats to build up the quadriceps muscle that runs along the front of your thigh above the knee, says Peggy Norwood-Keating, director of fitness at Duke University Diet and Fitness Center in Durham, North Carolina. Properly developed, the quadriceps can fill out the sagging skin that leads to baggy knees.

To begin the exercise, stand up straight and hold on to the back of a chair directly in front of you, says Norwood-Keating. It's helpful if you can work with a full-length mirror, so that you can study your movements and make sure that you're doing the exercise correctly. Now, bend your knees and move your rear end away from your body as though you were about to sit down. Look in the mirror--if you have one--to make sure that your knees are directly in line with--that is, directly above--your ankles or the tops of your feet. Do not allow your knees to move forward past your toes, as this defeats the exercise and can hurt your knees, says Norwood-Keating.

Squat down as far as you can, but--keeping an eye on your body in the mirror--don't let the angle formed by your lower legs and thighs exceed 90 degrees, says Norwood-Keating. Then, again watching your body in the mirror to keep your knees and ankles aligned, slowly stand up straight. Again, look down to see that your knees are over your feet and not pointing inward or outward.

Begin with two sets of 12 to 15 squats each (or less if this is too difficult at first), she suggests. When the squats begin to get easy, add a third set.

Put some weight into it. When the third set of squats seems easy, begin trying to let go of the chair and balance on your own, suggests Norwood-Keating. When you can squat unassisted, hold a pair of three- to five-pound dumbbells in each hand down by your sides. Then add two or three pounds each time the squats become easy once again.

If you do this exercise two to three times a week, you'll not only keep the skin over your knees nice and tight, you'll also be bouncing out of chairs at age 80 the way you did at 20.

Tuck some sunscreen in your golf bag. Since ultraviolet rays from the sun can speed destruction of elastin in the skin, Dr. Cela strongly encourages women to wear a sun protection factor, or SPF, 25 sunscreen on their legs when wearing shorts or a bathing suit, to prevent further sagging around the knees. Apply (and reapply) regularly, according to package instructions.