Can You Bend Your Knee Without Pain?
Does your heel touch the back of your thigh pain free with ease and without pain?
If the answer is no, then this increases your odds of chronic knee pain. Some of you reading this may already be experiencing knee pain.
We all know someone with knee pain. We all know someone that talks about their "bad knee" or that they can't do a certain activity because of their knee pain.
Medical research states that knee pain affects nearly a quarter of the adult population!
The traditional treatments and exercises for knee pain are not cutting it.
Most primary care and orthopedic doctors start with medications and injections. Well, anyone that's paying attention knows that you can't fix a mechanical problem with a chemical solution like an injection!
The pain may go down or disappear temporarily. The pain will return and is usually worse. Research clearly states that chronic use of NSAIDs (ibuprofen, motrin, Advil, naproxen, meloxicam, mobic, etc.) and steroid injections increase the speed and severity of degeneration!
Some patients with knee pain know this and so they tell their doctor, no thanks.
So you get shunted off to PT--usually within the same medical group. Then there's a lot of exercises, stretches, kinesiotape, Graston, rubbing, ART, ice/heat, e-stim, ultrasound, etc. It seems like it's a shot gun approach hoping it gets better. Because at this point all they are telling you is "it's just arthritis", or "it's just tendonitis", or "it's just IT band syndrome", or "jumper's knee". This list of generic labels is too long to mention.
Next, you try your local chiropractor who tries adjustments to your spine and extremities, may implement supplements or diets, and may even use some of the same methods your last PT tried all to no avail.
To be clear, it isn't always the fault of the providers, they are doing what they're trained to do.
No one learns how to find or fix fibrous adhesion in medical school. No one learns how to directly treat degeneration/arthritis without surgery or injections. Even the training for which exercises and stretches to use is contradicting. On top of that, insurance companies are 30 years behind and reimburse providers to keep using out-dated and ineffective treatments.
And at the end of the day a lot of people are still in pain.
They get frustrated and quit looking for help from health care professionals. They give up on their dreams of being active and quit favorite sports, hobbies, or games with their kids. This is a dangerous trajectory to be on. A major factor of elderly deaths, hospitalizations, and/or assisted living needs is due to falls. Sometimes it's simply due to the inability of being independently mobile.
What good is living a long life if we are not free to move with strength and without pain?!
The biggest cause of knee pain is due to degenerative changes in the cartilage and soft tissues in and around the knee. By that point there is also frequent dysfunction above and below the knee joint. You need a complete answer to the cause so you have a complete solution to the problem.
Quite simply, if your knee can't fully bend without pain then it is "sick". If it doesn't regain it's health through the proper treatment and regain it's mobility then it will continually get more "sick".
Once you've regained your full mobility then we can engage in proper strength and tissue lengthening exercises. We've been studying forgotten and overlooked principles of exercises surrounding knee health that are proving even more beneficial when added to our cutting edge treatments.
I cannot stress the importance of longevity—and a major part of longevity is being strong, flexible, and capable. I'm not talking about dunking a basketball, deadlifting 500 pounds, or curling into a pretzel. It's as simple as maintaining the capacity into your 80's to be able to take the stairs, lift up your great-grandchildren, squat down to tie your shoes, or climb a ladder.
We can help you get there. The sooner you start on this journey the happier and healthier you will be.
