In order to hike, bike, play with your kids or grandkids, travel, or just lead an active lifestyle; you need healthy, pain free knees.
Sadly, so often we get labeled with some scary diagnosis that makes us think there is nothing that can be done. Oh, you have arthritis, or you have degenerative changes in your knee and that is where the pain is coming from. There is no other solution other than to have surgery or be on medication for the rest of your life. Maybe not.
Knee pain affects millions of people out there. The pain can be from an injury but most of the time I find that the pain is something that happens without a clear cause. It can wreak havoc on your overall quality of life. So often fears come into play with the lack of mobility and not being able to do the things you love when people have knee pain. It is a fear you should not have. Most of the time you can avoid surgery, injections and medications. Knee pain is the 2nd most common chronic pain out there. One third of Americans will experience some sort of knee pain in their lifetime.
You would think that it would be a simple injury to treat knee pain. However, you need to get to the source of the pain and sometimes the source of the pain is not at the knee. I always say, where the pain is located is often not where the source of the problem is located. The source of the knee pain can come from the back, hip, muscles around the knee, imbalances, tightness, weakness to name a few.
Take it from an athlete, I abused my body playing soccer most of my life. I have had two knee surgeries (one I wish I never had and if I knew what I know now, I would not of had it.) My right is not great, but I can still run, hike, bike, and live life without thinking too much about it.
Do I have to do maintenance work on my knee? Yes, but that is not any different than doing maintenance on your car to keep it running smoothly. You just need guidance on what that looks like for you. There are some common themes when it comes to some knee pain.
It saddens me seeing so many arthroscopes for clean ups, or Total Knee Replacements. The number of knee surgeries have increased by over 300% in the last 10 years. People are getting knee replacements at younger and younger ages.
Many research articles out there are showing that knee scopes are not better than not having any surgery at all except that you have the risk of the surgery and they are still messing with the knee with a procedure. One study was done in 2002 showing that a sham surgery was just as effective as having a knee surgery. Outcomes were reported over a 24 month period and none of the surgery groups reported less pain or improved function over the placebo group. They were the same.
In another study for people waiting for a total knee replacement surgery. They underwent a McKenzie (MDT) assessment and found that 40% of the people waiting to have surgery got better after doing the assessment and treatment done by a Top McKenzie therapist. Wow, 40%. More and more research is coming out showing that surgery may not be the best option. Always trying a more conservative approach.
The cost of surgeries is also on the rise. So many people have deductibles that are higher and higher. What if you saw a physical therapist who specializes in the knee when you have your knee pain. The cost of getting you back to being active is priceless, but what about the savings you would make by not having surgery possibly. Something to think about…
I have written a Free Report on my Top Tips on Eliminating Knee Pain. These are tips I share with my patients and you can CLICK HERE to get this report. There are so many different sources of pain so if you need more guidance, feel free to email me at info@mpower-pt.com to start a conversation.
Again, Just CLICK HERE to get my FREE Tip Tips on Eliminating Knee Pain.
