Knee Pain: Is your Knee the issue or is it the victim? Well I can personally tell you that the knee pain I experience which going by the symptoms appears to be Patellar Tendinitis (which is pain just below the kneecap) and sometimes it is referred to as "Runners Knee." I've experienced this knee pain from time to time since I played High School Football almost 15 years ago. The knee pain would feel like a mild discomfort while walking down stairs, squatting down or lunging and sometimes when fully extending or locking out my leg. If I sat for long periods of time I would start to feel pressure in my knee almost as if it was tightening up. Now before my training as a Flexibility Specialist my first thought would have been "what's wrong with my knee" or "I've done something to my knee". Since my training as flexibility specialist I've learned to look at the whole body or the kinetic chain above and below the knee to see if there are imbalances in the muscles (over active & strong or under active & weak) as well as imbalances in the muscle and fascia tissue (short tight, long tight or loose). I've also learned that the knee is usually the victim caught a tug a war between the lower leg and upper thigh. Which ends up abusing the knee. So taking this approach I've been able to alleviate 95% of my knee discomfort by working on my Anterior Tibialis (shin muscle) and I do this by using a foam roller to release the tension in the muscle. About 4 years ago I had a client that was told by a few Doctors one of which was an Orthopedic Specialist that in order to reduce the knee swelling and pain that they needed to stop running or they would eventually need surgery. I did an assessment on their body and discovered that their Psoas muscle (hip flexors) were to tight (due to being a track runner for many yrs) which was inhibiting the glutes from functioning which in turn caused their TFL & Glute Medius (hip abductors) to become over active. This caused the IT Band to become tight which started to pull on the knee joint. Solution - stretch the hip flexors, TFL and Glute Med ever day especially before exercising. Results - 4 yrs later knee pain & swelling are still gone and they haven't stopped running. Conclusion - don't get caught up in focusing on where the pain is. Scan your body above and below the area with pain. For a more thorough assessment call me or see a PT, Chiropractor or a FST Flexibility Specialist. Jon Lempke 480-388-6241 www.stretchtherapy-az.com
Have you ever experienced a pain, ache or discomfort in your body that just never seems to go away?
You may have gone to a therapist of some kind such as a chiropractor or massage therapist to work it out and it may have subsided for a few days, weeks or months but then it just seems to come back again.
This is what I consider treating the symptom and not the cause. For example. If you think back to high school and there is a bully and the victim, which one complains? The victim right? You never hear about the bully going to their parents or the teacher and telling them about how they abused the other student. Never....It's always the victim telling someone about being picked on by the bully.
I have found that the aches and pains we experience in our body more times then not are no different. For example, neck and shoulder tightness/aches are more times then not the result of stress and strain being placed on them from the front of the body. Mainly the chest muscles (Pec Minor) and/or the hip flexors (Psoas) pulling the upper body into flexion or forward causing the shoulders and arms to round forward and the head to move forward.
As a result the Neck muscles (Levator Scapula), Shoulder muscles (Traps) and Back muscles (Rhomboids) get taut as they are elongated like a rubber band increasing the muscle tension in them. As a result of the constent tension on them they can develop knots or trigger points which can cause referred pain and muscle disfunction, restrict blood flow to the head causing tension headaches, cause bursitis in the shoulder and numbness/tingling in the arms and hands.
To relieve these symptoms and prevent them from coming back I have found that it is best to treat the source of the issues by; Releasing the muscles and tissue that are pulling the body forward into flexion and strengthening the postural muscles to help keep the head and shoulders in a neutral allignment.
