Have you gotten to that point with your knee where you have a story about it for people? “It’s bone on bone, there’s nothing that can be done”, “my cartilage is gone”, “my knee just hurts anytime I do ________.” “ my doctor is just waiting until it is bad enough and then they will do surgery”. If this sounds like you, you have a real problem …. not only do you have a painful knee, but you have decided correctly/or incorrectly, that there is nothing that can be done about it!
Let’s take a step back for a minute and ask, “if you could get help for your knee, without doing surgery, would you want to? If you would like that, then please read on, this message could be very valuable for you! First, why am I so excited to check out your knees? Well besides the fact that I enjoy fixing peoples health problems. There is a very good reason why I get excited about knees. Before I explain why though, let me share a few important things about knees problems with you.
Are You Ready? Here Comes the List of Important Facts About Knee Problems:
- Tight muscles are the #1 cause we see for knee pain – A working mom came in to the office for problems with the neck and shoulders. Incidentally we found through talking that she had chronic knee pain that she would get with running and doing workouts. Her doctor had told her that her cartilage was degenerating in her knees and one day she would need knee replacement to fix it. We checked out her knees and found that she had some tight calf muscles on both sides that were pulling the lower legs forward creating stress on the knee joints which were causing joint wear and tear, and cartilage loss over time. We started adjusting the knee alignment and stretching the calf muscles and her knee pain went down significantly. She is no longer thinking about her knees wearing out, and rather is focused on doing her killer workouts to stay fit! Might you have tight leg muscles that are pulling your knee out of alignment?
- Knee Inflammation the #2 cause we see for knee pain – A long time practice member came into the office recently complaining of severe pain in the knee. When asked about it, he had been having the pain for a few days. When asked if he had done anything different recently that might have affected his knee, he said that he had been walking more than usual lately, and the pain had developed after that. We examined his knee and didn’t find any structural problem in the knee itself. Further evaluation up the legs revealed a very tight and painful side of the thigh or tensor fascia late (TFL) muscle. When the TFL gets tight it pulls on the knee cap, pulling out. It then can wear against the leg bone causing friction and pain. Might you have tight leg muscles that are pulling on the knee cap creating inflammation on your knee?
- There are more causes for knee pain; misalignment, guarding, instability, and joint degeneration, and more. These are less common, but most also respond positively to chiropractic care.
Now, About That Answer, Why I am so Excited to Check Out Your Knees?
The reason is is that knees can respond easy!! Yes, that’s right, easy! It’s not uncommon to feel changes right away when we treat the knees. In fact, knees can respond so well to chiropractic care, people get embarrassed that they waited so long and suffered so much before they found us.
If there is one thing I can tell anyone that is living with knee pain and hasn’t seen a chiropractor for it, go see one. It could be me, or someone else, but get your knees checked by the chiropractor. You don’t have to live with pain and wait for surgery most of the time. In years of working with patients, I refer less than 1 in 10 people to an orthopedist to get their knee looked at. That means that over 90% of knee problems get helped right here!
I hope that this information gives you some hope that you can stop living with a knee problem, just waiting for surgery, and that there are other things that can help your knees than what you have tried so far.
Are you ready to get help for your knees? Give us a call at (425) 889-4701 and schedule your evaluation to see what we can do for you.
Yours in Health,
Daren Penry DC and Staff