Knee Pain?

What type of knee problem do you have?

A knee injury?
Osteoarthritis?
Knee surgery?
Sedentary Lifestyle?
Overweight?

A Knee Injury?

Do you know that knee pains - in particular pain caused by overuse or excess physical activity can respond well to self-care? As always check with your specialist first.

When orthopedic surgery is required, your rehabilitation physio needs to start from the time of the injury, not the surgery! (The surgery could be months away!)

First you start with injury management. Then you strength and increase your range of motion.

You need to stick with it. Not quick. Not easy. But necessary to eliminate future problems.

Osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis can develop from previous knee injuries - especially if you don't work hard enough to recover from them fully in the first place.

Inactivity combined with a stressed or injured knees will lead to more pain or more problems.

See your specialist. Diligently do what you're told. The only one you hurt if you don't, is you.

You need to build up your knee muscle strength and knee flexibility. The stronger the knee muscles, the less pain, the faster your recovery.

Knee Surgery

Recovering from knee surgery is NOT fun. We've both suffered from it. The road back is really long and painful. (Geoff's rehab lasted several months and was a total pain - and not always just in his knee!)

You just have to suck it up and bear down. Once you do that, it becomes (a little bit) easier!

Your orthopedic specialist and your physiotherapist become the center of your recover universe. You MUST obey them for the whole program. Your speed of recovery all depends on it. YOU have to want to heal and do what's necessary.

One excellent aspect of Geoff's recovery from quad tendon surgery was pool walking. Less weight load on your knee while you build up muscle strength. Ask about it if you have access to a pool.

Sedentary Lifestyle

Have you become a classic sedentary 'couch potato' because of a knee problem? Is it easier to plop yourself down in front of the TV than do your rehab?

Do this and your poor old knees, muscles and joints sort of forget what it's like to be active.

Or have you done this? One day you decide it's time to get up off the couch, get a little exercise and go for a nice, brisk walk. Next day your knees are making you pay the price for your folly. You're in pain big time!

So you say "That's it. I tried. Exercise equals pain! No more exercise for me. Back to the couch".

WRONG! Don't fall into that trap. It's deadly. But there's hope for you. Take a quick peek at our Couch Potato page and you'll be in a good groove real quick.

You can do it. You deserve the reward. Keep your eye on the prize as they say.

Overweight?*

OK. Right to the point. Carrying extra weight is BAD for your knees. Period.

No lectures here. Just a quick 'motivator for you.

Do you know that even a modest loss of weight can reduce your knee pain by up to 50%?

Try this. Put your hand palm down on the counter. Imagine you just smashed it with a hammer (just Imagine - OK?)

Now put a 10 pound bag of flour on the back of your hand. Lift it up an inch, move it forward a few inches and put it down. Repeat 10 times. How does your hand feel?

Now remove the bag and repeat. How does that feel?

'Nuff said?

Need A Little Extra Help?

Our friend Gail specializes in diet and weight loss . She has some excellent ideas that you might find helpful.

Dr. Dan's Weight Loss Advisor website is also very helpful. He takes a little different approach that might work better for you.

Dan and Gail both offer a wealth of information.

Great good luck!

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