Your knee is victim, not the bully

Don't get punked by your body.


Seriously, your body is laughing at you when you chase pain. Just when you think you have tried everything, maybe it is time to think outside the box. There is nothing to lose except pain.


Rarely is the site of pain the cause of the pain. It may seem counter intuitive, but the part of your body that is yelling at you is not what I, or you, or any therapist should be focusing on. Pain is simply a way for your body to communicate with you. "Please change your habits" "Houston, we have a problem" 


Recently, I have had a lot of new and seasoned clients approach me with knee pain so I wanted to take a few minutes to talk about the good ole patella.
The patella, aka knee, is embedded in the tendons of the anterior thigh muscles (quads) and forms the patellar ligament that originates on the tibia. Your patella lies over the hinge joint formed at the knee that provides flexion, extension, and very slight rotation of your lower leg. Your knee is very mobile and weight bearing for sure, but we can't give it too much credit. We must give attention and credit to what is going on above and below the knee. If the hip and ankle ain't having it, we know the knee is going to suffer.


Things to look at when experiencing knee pain:

A. Mobility and Stability in the hip: losing range of motion (ROM) in the hip can lead to the knee taking a beating. Spend time taking your hips through extension, flexion, rotation, ab/aduction. 


Click here for a great dynamic hip warm up.


B. Ankle Mobility: decreased ROM, especially in the dorsiflexion plane, leads to the knee picking up a lot of slack. Dorsiflexion is crucial, because it allows your shin bone (tibia) to move forward freely and if our tibia is stuck in a vertical position, this will in turn decrease our ability to create force in the hips, and even create a "flow-on" effect up the chain to the knee, thighs, hips, and lumbar. 


 Everything is connected and everything matters. 


Take Care. Move Better

Sara

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