Orthopedic & Pelvic Health Physical Therapy and Restorative Exercise Blog

What can you do for knee pain?

4/26/2021

I spent the last 2 weekends digging out weeds and prepping the ground for our new garden space. I used my right leg a lot to push on the shovel when I worked with the weeds and soil.

By the end of these heavy duty, all day gardening sessions, my right knee felt so stiff and painful I needed to address the tension around the knee.

I felt so good after my "knee rehab" session that I thought that I would share what I did. I am not pain free yet, but I know that if I keep this routine up through the week, I will be good to go in no time!

How to get rid of a painful & stiff knee

Decompress knee with a band
Release with balls: quadriceps, hamstrings, calves
Work the tissues surrounding the knee with Gua Sha tools (or a butter knife)

Decompress

Release Around Knee Joint

Gua Sha Tool to Tissues Around Knee Joint

Susan McLaughlin is a physical therapist who specializes in the management of pelvic floor and orthopedic dysfunctions. She is the owner of ALIGN integration|movement in Salt Lake City, UT. Helpful tips and other self care strategies can be found at www.alignforhealth.com.

Spinal Mobility Drill in Sitting

2/3/2020

Healthy spines need movement; healthy bodies need movement! Every spinal segment is like a cog in a wheel, when one section or vertebrae moves, the other follows suit, just like the chain moving around the crank shaft. Over the course of our lifetimes we get bogged down by tensions, holding patterns and loads that limit the mobility of the spine. Our nerves that travel to our organs, muscles, and skin exit the spine and span outward to their destination. For the health of your nerves, your lower extremities, core, organs, upper extremities and head, get a move on!

Explore your spinal movement

Link to Anatomy in Motion's, Wake your body up!

Movement Time Out

12/19/2017

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Decreasing tension is essential to get out of back and hip pain

Time Out

I grew up playing sports, so I understand the importance of a time out. In sport we use a time out to take a rest, make substitutions, communicate with the team to re-strategize or to inspire. Part of the work that I do with clients is to help support people to get out of pain. Often I suggest time outs to check in with the body and make the changes as needed: how am I sitting or standing, am I breathing, am I holding tension? These time outs are a great way to break the stagnation of the day, to connect with the body, and to come back into the present. Way too often our day gets caught up into automatic drive. So stop right now, get on the floor and try out these moves!

Your body will love you with these quick movement time outs:

Spinal Rotation: trunk and head

Flexion & Extension: Feet to head

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Glute Strengthening

12/9/2016

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This October I attended a continuing education course: Functional Biomechanics of the Lower Quarter taught by Christopher Powers, PT, PhD, FACSM, FAPTA.
I walked away from the weekend with much more appreciation for the gluteus maximus. The glute max works in 3 planes at the hip: extension (moving leg back behind the body), abduction (moving the leg away from the body out to the side), and external rotation (rotating the thigh so the knee moves outward).

The glute max is key to controlling the trunk over the pelvis, to the stability of the pelvis and to the lower quarter. When the glutes are weak, you will see increased leaning of the trunk, excessive pelvic drop on non-weightbearing leg, and poor femur control (medial collapse of the knee & internal rotation of the femur). Dr. Powers says, "If something isn't being used, something else is being overused." If you have pain in your back, your hip, your knee, or your foot, stop right now and do this self assessment of your glut max. Video yourself and observe your trunk, your pelvis and your knee as you step down and back up from an 8 inch step.

Step Down Test

My glutes need some work on both sides, but notice that I have less control with my right leg in this test. I have a harder time keeping my trunk upright, my pelvis drops, and my knee collapses in and is wobbly. What I really like about Dr. Powers program is that he provides a systematic 8 level training program for the glut max. You cannot go to the next level until you are able to pass the lowest one with ease and control. I have provided the first level of glute training here. Have fun, and may you be blessed with buns of steel!

Glute Max Activation

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Getting Deep into the Hips

4/11/2016

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Can you go deep? This is me in my workout days a few years ago, getting my serious face on to flip that heavy tire.
There are multiple factors that can limit the ability to go deep into a squat:

decreased mobility in ankles, knees, hips and spine
tight calves, quads, hamstrings, hip flexors
poor motor control
non-optimal core stability

This post addresses the first 2 bullet points and provides a quick mobility sequence to get into the hip, knee and ankle.

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Chair Busting

2/8/2016

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For many of us, our day is spent sitting at work, sitting at school and then we come home, maybe exercise and then sit and watch TV.
How can we minimize the deleterious effects of sitting? Stand more, walk more, and move more throughout the day. In this post I have included 3 chair busting strategies that emphasize strengthening the posterior oblique sling: gluteus maximus, thoracolumbar fascia and the opposite latissimus dorsi. This muscular sling is very important for lumbo-pelvic-hip stability during our gait and rotation patterns.

Get Moving!

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Get up and down from the floor with ease

10/19/2015

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Can you get up and down from the floor without using something sturdy for support like the coffee table or your knee? A few years back there was a Longevity Test hot in the news that predicted mortality risk. The test participants were told: "Without worrying about the speed of movement, try to sit and then to rise from the floor, using the minimum support that you believe is needed.”
The study found that those who needed to use their hands and their knees to get up and down were almost seven times more likely to die within six years, compared with those who could get up and down without support.
This study tested 2000 subjects ranging from ages 51 to 80. Now I don't know about you, but I know a lot of 20-30 year olds who need to use their hands and knees for assistance!

Lack of joint mobility and decreased strength plague our ability to move well. In order to get up/down from the floor easily we need toe extension, ankle dorsiflexion, knee and hip flexion and leg strength. Below I share with you two movements that are great for your lower extremity mobility and strength.

Split Lunge

Step into a stride position. Allow your back heel to be off of the floor. Make sure your feet face forward (think railroad tracks).

Drop straight down so your front knee bends at a 90 degree, and your back knee is bent at a 90 degrees. Hover just above the ground and then come back up. Repeat 5 times each leg.

Kneeling Toe Extension

Come down into a crouch position with your weight into your foot pads.

Begin to move your knees toward the floor taking your toes into an extension stretch. Moving nice and slow. Shift your weight down and back up 5-10 times. Stand back up and repeat the split lunges. Repeat the sequence at least 3 times.

If it is too intense to come all the way down to the floor you can use a prop to bolster with.

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Skinny Jeans and Your Pelvis

7/20/2015

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Tight jeans decrease blood flow in the pelvis.

If you follow the news or stay updated with current events via Facebook or Twitter, you probably read the story about a woman who sustained nerve damage in both of her legs after helping her friend move. This woman wore skinny jeans and spent most of her day in a squat position cleaning out cupboards. By the end of the day her feet felt tight and numb and she couldn't walk, she kept losing her balance and falling. Apparently the jeans had to be cut off of her due to the swelling, and it took her 4 days in the hospital to recover.

When our body can't move freely and our tissues are compressed, this will lead to decreased blood flow, decreased nerve conduction and decreased tissue hydration. Over time this can lead to lymphatic congestion, stiff joints, poor circulation and pain. Tight pants also affect how we are able to sit, bend and squat. Have you noticed how you sit in yoga pants versus jeans or pants?

Here I am in tight pants. In the pic on the left I am sitting like I normally want to do: tucked and posteriorly tilted with my pelvis. The red line shows the tilt of my pelvis. On the right, I am trying to sit as best that I can to neutral with my pubis and ASIS vertical. The blue line shows how far I am from neutral.

Here I am in loose pants. In the pic on the left again I am sitting in a posterior pelvic tilt. In the pic on the right I have positioned my pelvis to neutral (I am a little off on this as shown by the blue line. Don't judge, my mobility is a work in progress).

Chronic positioning of the pelvis into a posterior tilt can lead to all sorts of bad things like:

Changes in pelvic organ position. A tipped uterus can cause painful menstruation, urinary frequency and urgency. For more info on this click here.
Changes in muscle and connective tissue. Tissue adapts to how it is used, so habitual chronic positioning sets the stage for potential low back issues, SI pain, decreased hip mobility, tight and weak pelvic floor, hip flexors, hamstrings and calves.
Meralgia paraesthetica, pain and numbness on the front of the thigh.
Digestive issues: abdominal pain, bloating, heartburn, indigestion.

Please consider how your pants might be affecting your pelvic health. Even if you wanted to try to sit with a neutral pelvis, your jeans may not allow you to get there. Sometimes it is the simple changes that get you moving in a healthy direction.

Neutral Pelvis in Sitting

Untuck Your Pelvis

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Hip Mobility

6/19/2015

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Kneeling Lunge

The hip is simple in it's joint configuration, but very complex in its function. Like the shoulder, it is a ball and socket joint. That means that the thigh bone has a spherical head (femoral head) that fits into a cup-like socket (acetabulum) of the pelvis. This type of joint offers high freedom of motion to allow us to get down into a squat, high kick, dance, karate, etc. Compared to the shoulder, the hip has a little less motion in order to provide stability, and the femoral head can sit deeper in the socket of the acetabulum in order to prevent dislocation.
Because the hip is ball and socket, the joint is multi-axial, meaning it can move in many many planes of motion. When the foot is not touching ground (open chain) these actions are:

Abduction- moving the thigh away from midline
Adduction- moving the thigh toward the midline
Flexion- moving the thigh toward the chest
Extension- moving the thigh toward the back
Internal Rotation/External rotation- rotation about the femoral axis
Circumduction- moving the joint in a full circle

As I mentioned above, the joint is simple, but the function is complex because the hip joint, like any other joint in the body, does not work/move in isolation. Lack of hip range of motion can effect the health of the shoulders, spine, pelvis, knees and feet. Improving hip joint motion is one of the key steps to ensure proper mechanics of the extremities and the spine. How are your hips? Try these moves for better movement.

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Decrease Knee Pain

12/13/2014

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I love using Yoga Tune Up® therapy balls!

Knee pain affects 25% of the adult population. Most knee pain is blamed on arthritis. Arthritis is joint pain, stiffness, inflammation. But what causes that? How you move and use your body every day can increase joint loads, friction, and compression at the knee, and can eventually lead to pain, stiffness and inflammation. So, below is a series of movements to decrease the tension in the muscles surrounding the knee. This sequence is designed to improve blood flow and connective tissue hydration which can help decrease the tension in the muscles surrounding the knee and help to decompress the knee joint.
Save your joints and give yourself some quality ball time!

4 movements to release the muscles around the knee:

The last two videos don't show it, but you will want to continue to move the ball down the calf. Repeat on both sides, or just on your side of pain. If your knees are too stiff and painful to bend as shown in the last two videos, roll up a towel and place it on top of the balls and then sit back.
You can by the Yoga Tune Up® Balls and DVDs if you want to explore the amazing products from Jill Miller and Yoga Tune Up®.

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<<Previous

What can you do for knee pain?

How to get rid of a painful & stiff knee

Decompress

Release Around Knee Joint

Gua Sha Tool to Tissues Around Knee Joint

Spinal Mobility Drill in Sitting

Explore your spinal movement

Movement Time Out

Your body will love you with these quick movement time outs:

Glute Strengthening

Step Down Test

Glute Max Activation

Getting Deep into the Hips

Chair Busting

Get Moving!

Get up and down from the floor with ease

Split Lunge

Kneeling Toe Extension

Skinny Jeans and Your Pelvis

Neutral Pelvis in Sitting

Untuck Your Pelvis

Hip Mobility

Decrease Knee Pain

4 movements to release the muscles around the knee:

Author

FEEL GOOD SERIES:
Movement videos for download

Products I love:

Props for home:

Categories

Archives

How to get rid of a painful & stiff knee

Decompress

Release Around Knee Joint

Gua Sha Tool to Tissues Around Knee Joint

Explore your spinal movement

Your body will love you with these quick movement time outs:

Step Down Test

Glute Max Activation

Get Moving!

Split Lunge

Kneeling Toe Extension

Neutral Pelvis in Sitting

Untuck Your Pelvis

4 movements to release the muscles around the knee:

Author

FEEL GOOD SERIES:Movement videos for download

Products I love:

Props for home:

Categories

Archives

FEEL GOOD SERIES:
Movement videos for download