You have knee pain and are wondering what exercises to do to get rid of it. In order to find the best exercises for knee pain, you need to find the source of your knee pain. This blog will cover everything knee-related including:
- Knee pain diagnosis
- Causes of knee pain
- Knee pain relief
- Knee bracing
- And the best exercises for knee pain
The first step to treating knee pain is to understand the root cause behind it and what’s feeding the issue. So let’s begin!
Knee Pain Diagnosis
How can you know what exercises are best for your knee pain if you don’t know what’s causing it? With an acute knee injury where there was a direct impact to the knee, you will want to see a Doctor. This is to rule out any structural damage. Typically this is done by doing specific tests and potentially includes an MRI or X-ray of the knee.
The video below walks you through the different preliminary exercises to help identify the structures causing pain and discomfort.
Depending on the structures involved and extent of the injury, surgery may or may not be the solution. Not every tear or damage is a surgical case! In fact, functional movement rehabilitation combined with PRP injections actually does wonders.
It is good to know that the most common type of knee pain is chronic knee pain. This occurs over time and typically is a result of dysfunction or insufficient treatment. I suggest you check out my blog, ” Knee Pain Diagnosis and Treatment” to understand this more in detail.
Successful Knee Pain Relief
Unfortunately, the number of inactive patients with knee injuries has risen within the last 10 years. And the most common treatments are less than optimal!
So, if the injury is fairly ‘fresh’ modalities such as Cold Laser and ultrasound to the knee joint are ideal. These help decrease inflammation and facilitate the healing process. In addition, some degree of Active Release Technique (ART) may be used to address any soft tissue imbalance that contributes to pain and dysfunction. This is for both acute and chronic knee issues.
The goal is to get you out of pain as soon as possible! We want to move you to the active phase of treatment to bring the function back to the joint. You see, when you are in pain, your brain can only focus on getting you out of pain. So it is only until you are out of pain that we can have the full attention of the brain for what comes next.
What makes our knee treatment successful and sets us apart from most other clinics is our focus on the movement patterns that led to your knee issues. What often gets missed in other treatments, is how your movement patterns change as a result of knee pain. When this dysfunctional pattern becomes long-term, you’re in trouble! It is so subtle that it is easy to miss. It is not necessarily a big limp that is noticeable to everyone!
The only way to understand YOUR dysfunction in movement is through an exam that is strategically performed. This is where we look for these subtle signs and cues. We are talking about Postural Neurology and Functional movement, Dynamic Neuromuscular Stabilization (DNS) exercises here.
Best Exercises for Knee Pain
The best knee exercises do NOT isolate the knee to stretch or work out. They are gentle exercises that allow you to go through full-body movement while the ‘spot light’ is on the knee!
You see, if movement is a concert, your brain is the conductor. The map of movement (homunculus) is the musical notes. The body parts are the musicians. While some songs require all musicians to play at once, others require some to phase in/out while others get the spotlight.
The video below shows an example of a knee exercise that is easy to duplicate mechanically but not as easy when done functionally!! The concepts of Developmental Kinesiology are applied in all musculoskeletal conditions so we do not re-invent the wheel! If all babies, regardless of our differences, move the same way and follow the same patterns of movement, then we must be programmed to move that way.
Developmental Kinesiology is applying the understanding of proper movement so we can re-walk the path that we all did as babies. Our habits, sedentary lifestyles, overuse injuries, and pain lead to the rewiring of the movement patterns and is the reason why functional movement becomes dysfunctional.
Here is an example of these exercises using the concepts of Developmental Kinesiology.
You cannot have chronic knee issues without involving the hamstrings. Our sedentary life forces our hamstrings to not be as flexible in its lengthening and shortening and the first step toward dysfunction is presented by the lack of synchrony between the quads and hamstrings. Isolating either group of muscles to stretch is a waste of time! Reaching down to touch the toes is not going to do anything. Instead, you should do what is shown in the video below which btw shows the importance of Biological Breathing and core stabilization in all exercises. Your breath is the least appreciated factor in movement and movement-related issues!
Should You Get a Knee Brace?
Now, one thing I do not understand is when people wear a brace to run and we are not talking about jogging. I understand the training involved when a runner is injured so nothing replaces your mindfulness about your knee, your movement, and your balance when running. When you wear a brace, you are limiting your movement beyond what it needs to be. If you are running like you normally would, you ought to consider taping. Taping is not going to support your knee but brings extra attention (sensory stimulation) from your brain to the area. That means you should NOT push through because you believe in ‘no pain, no gain’!
You ought to be responsible with your decisions and attentive to how your body needs slow but steady training to get rehabilitated properly. Re-injuries come by easily because of the fact that it is exciting to be active and not respect the limitations and boundaries at the beginning! Watch this video to learn more.
I am a huge fan of Proprioceptive Taping to reinforce what we want the brain to specifically pay attention to. Taping is misused and overused but with proper taping methods and focus on the goal, taping is a great way to minimize the amount of injury in active individuals specially.
If you have any questions please contact me and check out my Youtube Channel with the Knee Playlist packed with exercises just for you.
Dr. Shakib