Three Reasons Your Knee Pain Keeps Coming Back Even After Physical Therapy and Chiropractic Care
We understand what it’s like to live with knee pain.To worry about if the pain will ever fully go away. To feel frustrated when tasks that used to come so easy to us all of a sudden become difficult. And to live with the underlying stress and worry that we’ll one day have to avoid our favorite activities all together or need a costly and debilitating surgery.
We also understand that there’s nothing more frustrating than investing time and money in solving a problem like knee pain - only to have the pain come back years, months, even days later. It can make people feel stuck. That of that they have ‘bad knees’ and it will be something they have to live with for the rest of their lives.
We want you to know this couldn’t be further from the truth!
In this weeks article we cover three reasons your knee pain keeps coming back even after traditional physical therapy and chiropractic care.
1) Not Treating the Root Cause
Aside from major traumas, the root cause of knee pain is NEVER found at the knee. It’s usually the result of muscle weakness or imbalance elsewhere in the body that leads to abnormal forces at the knee. Which is why we need to also look at the hip and the ankle when assessing and treating knee pain.
Hip Strength
Our hip musculature (glute complex) is the cornerstone of stability on the lower leg (knee included). Strong glutes create better control, which leads to less force at the knee. Building hip strength will help provide the stability at the knee to avoid pain and prevent injuries.
Ankle/Foot Movement
Missing range of motion at the ankle leads to higher impact at the knee. Missing ankle range of motion decreases the foots ability to absorb ground reactive forces and leads to increase stress up at other joints of the body (including the knee).
A general rule is: A stiff foot/ankle = less shock absorption = more impact transferred too the knee = more pain at the knee.
Assessing and correcting root causes of knee pain (rather than treating symptoms) is just one way to keep you knee pain from coming back.
2) Poor Movement Patterning Causing Constant Irritation
The term ‘Movement patterning’ refers to how we coordinate movements to perform basic tasks. How we lift something up off the ground, how we reach overhead, and how we walk/run/jump/squat are all examples of movement patterning. Our bodies are meant to move a certain way and unfortunately hours spent sitting in front of a computer and long periods of inactivity can change the way we move, leading to more aches and pains.
If your knee pain keeps coming back, it’s very possible that you’re moving in a way that repeatedly irritates the knee - never letting it full heal. Working with a specialists like those at Evolve to correct movement patterning to protect your knee is another way to prevent t from coming back!
Dr, Baird demonstrates two different squat variations - one placing increased stress at the knee - can you tell which one?
3) Not Enough Repetitions and No Exercise Progressions
A lot of our clients come to us with exercises given to them at some point in their journey to overcome knee pain. The problem? You’re often show the exercise at one visit - and then never see it again. One of the primary reasons your knee pain keeps coming back is simply because we haven’t performed enough repetitions and never been show ways to progress those exercises .o continue to build strength/
With anything in life - we can’t expect to have any significant change without repetition and without a plan to grow and improve. When it comes to overcoming knee pain it’s vitally important to work with providers like those at Evolve that create progressive plans that allow you to continually improve you strength and movement patterns.
Evolve Performance Healthcare specializes in helping adults aged 40+ find LASTING solutions to nagging aches and pain so they can continue to do what they love and stay out of the doctors office.
Learn more about how we can help you overcome knee pain by clicking the button below.
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