In this instructional YouTube video, Glenn Dawson demonstrates a simple, towel‑based routine to alleviate knee pain caused by sports or everyday activities. He begins by showing how to fold and roll a towel into a pad, then guides viewers through a series of four movements: (1) a quad‑release stretch performed on all fours with the towel placed behind the calf to reduce knee pressure and activate the popliteus; (2) an advanced elevated hip‑flexor lunge using the same towel for knee padding, aimed at further releasing the quad; (3) a hamstring‑focused stretch where the towel wraps around the ball of the foot, pulling the heel toward the chest to improve patellar tracking; and (4) a “downward‑dog” calf raise‑and‑stretch that alternates a 5‑second calf contraction with a 30‑second stretch to trigger a sympathetic nervous system response and promote tissue lengthening. After completing the sequence (5‑10 reps for the first two moves, ~10 reps for the hamstring stretch, 2‑3 cycles for the calf work), Dawson advises viewers to retest the knee by performing squats and lunges, and invites them to share results in the comments. The video combines practical biomechanics explanations with clear, step‑by‑step guidance.
Chapters
Ah, if your knee is in pain, whether it's from pickleball, basketball, cutting sports, I'm going to show you how to relieve the tension in your knee using this simple towel that you already have at home. So the first move we're going to do is with the towel, you're going to fold it in half and then roll it up. That way we can create this little pad. Now we're going to go through flexion and extension and stretch out the quad. The quad gets really, really, really tight in the banged up knee, and most people are quad dominant from just the way that they're built up with their muscular imbalances. So the first thing you're going to do, you're going to go into an all-four position and slide the towel behind your calf into your hamstring. This is going to do two things. One, it's going to help us relieve pressure from the knee as we sit back, but it's also going to smash out the back, the popliteus muscle in the calf, which leads into the knee and controls rotation in the knee. Now you're going to want to do, you know, 5 to 10 of these until the knee feels like it's a little bit looser and stay within your healthy range of motion. Now, if this is too simple for you of a stretch, we can advance it and then move into an elevated hip flexor lunge stretch and use the, the same towel behind the knee. Go into that hip flexor lunge stretch. And go back and forth. Make sure this bottom knee is padded. Otherwise it's going to hurt. You're going to get a bruise. It's going to tighten up and you're not going to release the quad. Once you've done this successfully, move on to this next movement. Now that we've released the quad, it's time to work on the hamstring and get the kneecap to track better. We'll take our towel and wrap it around the ball of your foot. From here, you're going to slide the heel back and the knee up into your chest, just like so. And I'll show you the side view. And you want to do this at least 10 times and work on it until the knee feels like it's tracking properly. Last but not least, a lot of knee issues actually start at the calf itself and lead up to the knee taking more pressure than it should. So what we're going to do next is a downward dog calf raise and stretch. So you're going to lift and flex your calf for 5 seconds and then stretch it for 30. Now, this is a sympathetic relief. So basically what it means is you're activating your calf and then releasing it so your nervous system can relax and actually stretch the tissue. Just stretching isn't going to get the job done. You want to trick your nervous system into lengthening the tissue. You can do this 2 to 3 times, 5-second flex, 30-second stretch and you'll feel a lot better. Once you're finished, make sure you retest the knee. See how it's feeling. Do your squats, your lunges, move around, and let me know in the comments how it feels afterwards. And if this video brought you value and made you feel better with just a towel, which is crazy, make sure you share it. See ya.
